Lullaby of a Youkai
by BlackRoseGirl666
Summary: Kyuubi was sick of her prison and felt sympathy for her jailer. Naruto was raised by a Fox and didn't want to disappoint, so he chose someone who wouldn't. Tsunade was under pressure, but didn't make the right choice. The 'citizens' of Oto were sick of their tormentor, but needed a leader. In this world, they received two. This is the fallout. WARNINGS: Violence, Yoai
1. Intro

**Sweet dreams are made of this**

**Who am I to disagree?  
>I travel the world<br>And the seven seas-  
>Everybody's looking for something.<br>Some of them want to use you  
>Some of them want to get used by you<br>Some of them want to abuse you  
>Some of them want to be abused.<strong>

**- Sweet Dreams Are Made of This, The Eurythmics**

* * *

><p>An almost-seven-year-old Uzumaki Naruto ran through the moonlit streets of Konoha's most seedy district with a speed that would have impressed many. His small lungs worked overtime in an attempt to drag in more air to keep himself going as the group of villagers behind him began to close in, herding him into a darkened alleyway.<p>

As was usual for the date of October 10th, the villagers of the revered ninja village of Konoha had formed a mob and were currently throwing various insults and items they thought might leave a mark at the small child. Said child's clear, sky blue eyes widened pitifully as he turned to face his attackers now that he had nowhere left to run. Wet tears ran down his face like waterfalls through the grime covering his cherubic cheeks. They clouded his vision as he looked at the group surrounding him. Hate and pain contorted their faces into something evil, the firelight of their torches casting them in a shadowy half-light that made them seem even more sinister to the fearful child.

"Demon!"

"Monster!"

"You killed my brother!"

"You killed them all!"

"We should finish what the Fourth started!"

"Die!"

The mob's curses grew more and more enraged as they drew closer to the child who had rolled himself up into a ball; praying that it would give him some degree of protection from the slurs and the strikes that he knew were to come.

He hadn't known why they had done these things to him before. He hadn't known why no one would protect him. How could he have? No one ever took the time to explain anything to him, to help him.

But that, thankfully, had all changed on his sixth birthday a year ago. During an even-more-vicious-than-usual beating he had been knocked unconscious and, in a twist of fate, wound up meet Kyu-san.

Kyu-san had taken care of him.

Kyu-san had kept him safe.

Kyu-san had told him everything.

Kyu-san, or Kyuubi, as was, surprisingly, _her_ official name, had explained it all to him. Everything from how she was sealed inside him to why she had attacked in the first place and all the events in between and after.

Originally he had hated the people who had hurt him for such a stupid reason. He had wanted them all to hurt too; wanted them to feel as alone and hurt as him. He had thought that they deserved to feel the pain they had inflicted on him. But then Kyu-san had explained to him that if he started hating them so personally, so passionately, then he'd wind up no better than them; lost in rage and prejudice.

Kyu-san had sounded very sad about it.

Naruto had formed a very quick opinion that he didn't like it when Kyu-san was sad.

So Naruto did his best not to hate the villagers while at the same time remembering that none of this was his fault. It was very confusing for a six-going-on-seven-year-old, but then again, only people who didn't know Naruto very well would ever accuse him of being slow.

Still though, it was hard not to hate them – especially when they beat him – and this beating was especially bad.

The little blonde winced as he felt a kunai pierce his skin. He thought his wrist might have been broken or maybe just severely sprained but he wasn't sure. The villagers usually tried not to break anything in case it could be used against them if the Hokage ever found out, not that Naruto ever told the old man. The few times Naruto had gone to the old Hokage with his problems the man had just smiled sadly and said it would get better.

It hadn't.

Or at least, it hadn't until he had met Kyu-san; now he just went to her to get his injuries healed.

Among all his other injuries Naruto could feel the shards of a broken sake bottle matted together with blood and dirt in his hair, turning it from a golden shade to a mucky yellow. He knew from experience that countless bruises and bumps were forming on his skin at that very moment from the all the hits he had taken throughout the night, giving him a slightly monstrous appearance.

Before meeting Kyu-san that alone would have kept him inside, out of shame and fright; but now that, at least, wasn't a problem.

Gasping as the toe of a sandal collided with his stomach Naruto bit his tongue and scrunched his eyes closed tighter, praying to every different kind of deity his childish mind could remember that it would all be over soon and he could go see Kyu-san.

Moments later the crowd slowly but surely began to disperse, leaving the bloodied and beaten child in the alleyway they had cornered him in. It was getting late in the night and they all had jobs to go to in the morning. Children to take care of. People to protect. They couldn't spend all night making sure the monster got what he deserved, now could they? They had already made sure that the thing wouldn't be able to move without one hell of a lot of pain and without killing it there was nothing more they could do to make sure the brat knew how hated it was.

For now, at least, they felt their duty to the fallen was done.

Naruto just lay there, staying completely still for a moment and reveling in the feeling of the cool rain that had started to pour from the sky; taking in the feeling of the fingers of icy water sliding down his skin as it took away all the blood and dirt that covered him while he tried to catch his breath.

Finally, after a few more deathly silent moments, the little boy commanded his mistreated body to move, to get him away from this place of pain and to take him somewhere safer.

He commanded his body to take him _home_.

Home was a tiny, rundown little apartment on the very edge of Konoha's main city district. It took him maybe half an hour to make his way there, limping and bleeding as he was, when usually he could make it to his dingy little haven in fewer than fifteen minutes from just about anywhere in the village.

Carefully reaching into the bright orange jumpsuit the Old Man Hokage had given him, Naruto pulled out a small key and slid it into the lock, using his less battered shoulder to carefully nudge the cheap wooden door open once the mechanism clicked.

Limping past the threshold Naruto didn't take any note of the living room/kitchenette combo's tiny size nor did he stop by the equally puny bathroom to wash up. Instead the little boy simply tugged the thin door shut and locked it again before making his way past his beaten couch and into his darkened room, where he passed out on his bed with no hesitation, body and mind pushed beyond exhaustion.

* * *

><p>In less time than it took to take a breath Naruto's world was nothing but soft, sweet black. From there the scene began to change, the comforting darkness leeching away to reveal Naruto's inner most consciousness, otherwise known as a dreamscape – not that he knew that. He simply knew it as the place where Kyu-san lived.<p>

The room was larger than any Naruto had ever physically been in, with walls made of polished obsidian, floors of red tile and a concave ceiling with a simple, though finely crafted, chandelier hanging from its center. Copper wall sconces jutted from the shiny stone some seven feet up and three apart, helping to light the behemoth of a room.

At the very back of the space, pressed against the wall was the focal-point of the room; a giant cage so big that Naruto was sure his entire apartment building could fit in it and more. It was bland in comparison to the rest of the area, though that was made up by how pretty its occupant was, Naruto thought with a shy smile.

_She _was pretty enough to be a princess, Naruto's young mind had decided early on, maybe even prettier. Her hair was blacker and shinier than the obsidian that made up the walls of the room and fell to her ankles in one silky wave when she stood. Porcelain skin, flawless and scar-free, showed everywhere that wasn't covered by her ornate red battle kimono or delicate-looking amour and her features were very fine, like the fairy dolls he saw in the toymaker's window when he had to travel further into town for food but _much_ more realistic.

Two fuzzy, orangey-red fox ears poked cutely from the top of her head, accenting her daunting red eyes and large, warm fox tails (nine in all) quite nicely, Naruto thought. Sitting so peacefully in her cage, legs tucked up under her as she meditated, he might have even thought to call her _ethereal_ if he'd known such a word.

Upon feeling Naruto's presence within her domain of, as of a few hours ago, seven years the woman immediately pulled herself from her meditation and got to her feet. Moving quickly she kneeled so her body was pressed right up against the bars of her cage and held her arms out, fey-like features softening in worried welcome.

Naruto did his best to stumble towards her, but he was _tired. _Even in his mind he couldn't escape the pain and instead of running to his savior, as he had deemed her mentally, he wound up half dragging himself to her arms.

A gasp escaping her reddened lips, Kyuubi hurriedly gathered Naruto to her, using her soft, fluffy tails as a makeshift bed for the child as she ran her slender fingers through his matted hair in comfort. Guilt and rage welled in her, surfacing in tears that she quickly suppressed. No use getting Naruto even more upset over her tears, she thought. Poor kid had too kind a heart.

"I'm so sorry that this keeps happening to you, kit." The ancient, _dangerous_ Lady of War whispered, cradling the small human to her and cooing to him, exercising maternal instincts she'd thought long drowned in the ecstasy of blood and death.

"It's not your fault, Kyu-san," The child mumbled to her, his arms tightening around the female warlord as a familiar tingling sensation went over his body, healing his many wounds.

The fox demon smiled sadly and pushed the child back to arm's length, maneuvering one of her tails so the child could use it as something to cuddle with.

"If you won't let me apologies then let me sing you to sleep while you heal okay?" Kyuubi asked, moving her tails once again so that the child could lie in front of her, allowing her to run her fingers through his, in the process of being cleansed, hair.

"Okay," Naruto replied sleepily, his small hand gently petting the soft red fur of the fox demon as she smiled down at him and began her song.

"Hush little Kitling, don't say a word.

Kyuubi's earthquake will shake the whole wide world,

But if Konoha does not fall,

Fire will come at Kyuubi's call

And if Konoha does not burn,

Kyuubi will make the oceans churn,

And if Konoha does not drown,

Kyuubi's tornado will blow it down

And if Konoha stays as it has been,

Then Kyuubi will start all over again…"

Naruto could feel his eyes begin to droop as his Kyu-san started her song over again; her gentle, crooning voice encouraging a feeling of peace to take over him as he began to drift off to sleep…

* * *

><p>Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, moved with a stealth unknown to most his age as he made his way to the young Uzumaki's room after receiving a tip about a particularly brutal beating the young one was said to have received. For the last few months the Sandaime had tricked himself into believing that the child had finally managed to outwit his pursuers, or that the people of the village had finally started to leave the poor child alone, but now he realized he was a fool to have ever considered such a thing.<p>

Coming up to the young one's apartment door the Sandaime used his chakra to manipulate the lock before softly pushing the door open, stringently ignoring the jab of guilt he felt as his eyes fell across the dank, cheerless space. He knew Minato and Kushina would have his head when he saw them again in the next world but it just couldn't be helped right now.

Sighing, the old man continued on his journey and slipped into the boy's bedroom, hoping to heal him before he awoke and avoid hearing Naruto's pleas for help again.

Apparently, this was not meant to be. The Sandaime barely held back a gasp as he watched the eerily recognizable, already-present chakra drift over the boy's skin, healing him far better than Sarutobi could ever hope to.

It was a bright, pulsing red-orange; powerful to an insane degree and almost poisonous to any who used it without its owner's given grace. It was the _Kyuubi's_ chakra.

The Sandaime watched in stunned fascination as the child's wounds closed into scars and then as the scars faded out of existence. The bruises and welts that boy possessed disappeared much the same way and a sharp crack echoed throughout the silent night as the boy's obviously broken wrist snapped back into place. Dirt, blood, and glass shards vanished into thin air as the old man stood there, watching, and not daring to make a noise.

After what seemed like a small eternity, the inky-red mass of energy began to thin, not quite dispersing but rather drifting back into the boy's body in a way akin to a sponge, leaving no trace behind but the years Sarutobi felt he'd lost off his life at the sight of it.

When the chakra had disappeared completely and a quick glance on the old man's part revealed to boy to be unharmed (_Unharmed? Try rejuvenated!_ Sarutobi's mind scoffed), the Sandaime turned to leave. It was clear that the Kyuubi had decided to protect the child rather than harm him, so now there wasn't much left for the old Hokage to do other than –

"Then Kyuubi will start all over again..."

The Sandaime's heart froze in his withered chest. Turning back slowly towards the boy, no more than six (_no, seven now,_ his mind reminded him, it was the boy's birthday today, after all) and looking the paragon of innocence and sweetness, Sarutobi couldn't help but fear that if things kept progressing the way they were, those chilling, childish words would turn prophecy…

Shaking his head, the old man made quick work of leaving the child's room and then the apartment completely, locking the door behind him as he went. When he was back in his office, the reinstated Third Hokage demanded his secretary bring him every one of the men who were meant to be guarding Naruto that night and fired them before reassigning new, hopefully more dedicated ones.

He'd be damned if he let that child bring about Armageddon because of village's poor treatment of him. From this day forward things would change, Sarutobi swore. They would have to, if they wanted to live beyond the next few decades.

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><p><strong>All right, I hoped you all liked this and will review and yes! I did adopt this from Daydreamer-74423! Everything is totally legal <strong>**THIS STORY IS NOT STOLEN!**

**Anyway, I hope you all ejoyed this! And don't forget to thank TheVastEmptiness for betaing and being awesome at it!**

**Sincerely,**

**BlackRoseGirl666**


	2. Solo

**As we walk among these shadows,  
>in these streets, these fields of battle<br>Take it up, we wear the medal,  
>raise your hands with burning candles<br>hear us whisper in the dark,  
>in the rain you see the spark<br>Feel the beating of our hearts, fleeting hope as we depart  
>All together, walk alone<br>against all we've ever known  
>all we've ever really wanted<br>was a place to call our own  
>But you take all we are;<br>the innocence of our hearts  
>Made to kneel before the alter<br>as you tear us apart**

**-****Young, Hollywood Undead**

* * *

><p><strong>(Five Years Later)<strong>

A blonde blur was all that could be seen as the now thirteen-year-old Uzumaki Naruto ran at top speed along the branches that would eventually bring him to the Valley of the End, hot on the trial of his best friend-turned-supposed-traitor, Uchiha Sasuke.

Cursing, Naruto urged himself to go faster; drawing on Kyu's power to increase his speed in his desperation. He'd be damned if he let Sasuke get sucked away by that fucking snake; not while he was still alive and breathing!

Gritting his teeth Naruto clenched his hands by his sides. _Dammit_! He couldn't understand why Sasuke would do this to him! They'd been best friends since they'd first met at the Academy for fuck's sake; you'd _think_ that would warrant a bit of a warning about desertion, wouldn't you?

It had been _Naruto_ who'd spent countless hours trying to coax Sasuke out of his shock after the massacre and it had been _Naruto_ that had held him when he started to go hysterical after snapping out of it. It was _Sasuke_ who'd helped him fend off the villagers when they got gutsy and let him hide out at the Uchiha Complex when his apartment wasn't deemed safe.

Hell, for the last few years he had practically _lived_ with Sasuke; if only so they could both keep their collective sanities intact.

That was why Naruto was so fucking confused about what was going on. In all his life Sasuke had never once hinted at pulling something like this and if he was planning something, well, like _this_ then Naruto was ready to swear on his life that the raven-haired boy would have told him.

That was how it had been since they'd met. Whenever one of them was planning on doing something possibly stupid, and Naruto did count this as stupid, they always ran it over the other first. They had done this with everything from pranks to plans of revenge and honestly, Naruto had been surprised with how well it had worked out.

Naruto smirked slightly; and to think it had all started thanks to one smart-ass remark...

_The eight-year-old Naruto Uzumaki stood at the entrance of his recently assigned teacher, Iruka-sensei's, room for a full minute before he finally convinced himself to walk into the classroom. It wasn't like he was frightened or nervous about what the other children would think of him, he had a pretty good feeling that it would be the same way most grownups felt about him, if only a little less violent. No, what had him standing and staring at the edge of the classroom door was shock._

_Scattered in random groups around the room were, in his opinion, most definitely __**not**__ what he would consider ninja-in-training! What Naruto saw where just a bunch of annoying, loud, and irresponsible kids, not the next generation of ninja/ANUB that would be sworn to protect the village! Hell, if Kyu-san caught him acting half as silly as this group he would be in for a __**major**__ tongue lashing and enough extra training to make the famous Might Guy cringe!_

_Taking a deep breath, Naruto walked in; ignoring the looks he was getting from the room of curious children as he took a seat near the back of the class beside one of the only three kids that was actually seated._

_Glancing at the kid out of the corner of his eye, Naruto coolly (or as coolly as he could; he was eight after all) took stock of his appearance._

_He had black hair and eyes with icy pale skin and an aura of seriousness and control that marked him an Uchiha. Of course, it also helped that Uchiha Itachi was one of the ANBU sent to guard Naruto on his last birthday; not that Itachi knew Naruto knew who he was. Kyu-san had taught him to read auras and chakras so he was able to recognize people from miles away if he needed to._

_Plus, it was also helpful when trying to find out what family people belonged to and if people were who they said they were._

_Stealing another glance at the other boy, Naruto sighed; he was just sitting there, staring out the window; hardly doing anything interesting at all._

_Though, Naruto thought, he was definitely better company than the rest of their class. So far Naruto bet that only about ten of the kids in this class were going to pass and not be killed before they made chunin._

_Naruto sweat dropped as a couple of girls, one kind of wimpy looking and the other clearly a Yamanaka, started taking swings at each other over something about a seat beside 'Sasuke-kun!' and then began re-estimating his guess._

_Sighing once again, Naruto turned his attention back to the Uchiha kid, who, if he had to guess, was most likely the fabled 'Sasuke-kun!' if all the stares being sent at the raven haired boy by the girls in the class were anything to go by._

_With a sudden light bulb-like realization, Naruto figured this meant that he was sitting in the seat those girls were fighting over...Oh well, he'd burn that bridge when it came to it._

_Turning his attention back to the boy, presumably called Sasuke, for the third time that day Naruto decided it was time he try and introduce himself. Besides, if this kid was anything like his presumably older brother Itachi, who actually did his job of protecting him even when Naruto knew he knew it lost him points with the public, then the kid couldn't be all that bad._

_That, and he was bored beyond all belief._

_Pasting on a grin Naruto turned to him only to have his attempted introduction interrupted by a high pitched shriek that left him surprised that the windows of the room hadn't shattered._

_Turning his attention away from the boy, who looked like he was resisting a shudder, and toward the direction of the shriek – as had everyone else, including the Uchiha – Naruto found his eyes locking with a pair of fuming emerald green that belong the wimpy-looking pink-haired girl he had seen fighting with the Yamanaka._

_It was apparently the pinkette who let out the shriek._

_Steeling himself for the verbal attack he felt coming, Naruto turned his own icy blue eyes on the girl. Honestly, could she not see that she had made a fool of herself by letting out that screech? Hell, he was sure the banshees in Kyu's stories didn't sound half as bad in real life, never mind the fact that it was girls like this that gave a bad name to kunoichi everywhere._

_Couldn't she tell she was just embarrassing herself?_

_The girl glared harder at him and took a deep breath before letting out her rant._

_"Who do you think you are? Didn't you see that I was about to sit there? Move you jerk!" She half yelled, her voice getting steadily louder as she went on until she had the entire class's attention._

_Naruto just stared in amazement for a second before snapping back to the present. Did that girl really expect that he would just move out of the way after she went off at him like that? Hell, the villagers already raged on him enough without letting this ugly little pain attack him to!_

_Setting his own glare at her Naruto began speaking, his voice as calm and cold as it could be for a small child in his position._

_"First of all, you're supposed to introduce yourself before yelling at someone and second, I've been sitting here for the last fifteen minutes watching you and the Yamanaka girl over there duke it out. If you wanted this seat so bad then you should have gotten here earlier."_

_Naruto paused there for a second, looking on in contentment as the banshee sputtered for a retort before he started up again. _

"_Now if you don't mind, it's only five minutes to the bell so unless you want to look more like an idiot than already do I'd suggest you go find another seat."_

_Naruto watched with a satisfied smirk as the girl sputtered for something to say; his smirk turning into a smile when he heard a small, attempted-to-be covered snicker come from the supposedly stone-cold Uchiha to his left._

_Smiling brightly, Naruto sent a grin to the raven-haired boy who openly returned it, successfully busting the rumor that Uchiha couldn't smile, and offered his hand to Naruto before continuing to introduce himself._

_"I'm Sasuke and that was great! That girl's been bugging me since kindergarten! What's your name?" _

_The boy, now officially ID'ed as Sasuke, asked as Naruto shook his hand, both of them blocking out the offended shrieks the girl was casting their way as her 'frenemies' began to pull her to a seat in the very back row, which had been staked out as the 'Sasuke 'inspectors' Headquarters.'_

_"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki and if you liked that then I have a whole load of other pranks and stuff we could try out on her and her cronies later if you like," Naruto said, grinning 'innocently'._

_Sasuke took on a shocked look for a second before an equally 'innocent' smirk took over his face as well._

_"You know Naruto, I think this could be the start of a great friendship." The ravenette said. And with that both turned back to the front, completely unaware of what those words would bring about._

Naruto smiled sadly, his mind occupied with memories even as his feet dashed across the wood of the tree branches. One year after that Itachi had snapped and killed the Uchiha clan, leaving Sasuke broken and alone but for Naruto and a whole bunch of political leeches they'd been forced to fight off together.

A couple months after Naruto had wound up telling Sasuke about Kyu, following an attack by the villagers that could have very well ended in his death if Sasuke hadn't shown up: still dressed in his night clothes and looking ten kinds of murderous as he sent mountains of killing intent at the mostly drunk villagers who'd been beating on his best friend.

He'd been asking for years before that, wanting to know why the village had such a sound hate of his best friend and what he could do to help, and after that night Sasuke hadn't been willing to take no for an answer anymore.

"_You already know all my dirty secrets; can't you trust me to guard yours?" _Sasuke had whispered after patching him up; his eyes red-rimmed from weeks spent mourning his dead family.

So Naruto had told him. About how Kyuubi had attacked the village all those years ago in a maddened rage she couldn't explain, about how she'd been bound inside of the child of the Yondamie for seeking revenge for something she couldn't remember. About how he was that child; forever hated for housing a "monster".

Sasuke had just looked at him for a moment before quietly mumbling that he could understand Kyuubi's feelings and pulling a hidden bottle of sake out of one of the loose floorboards and offering Naruto a sip.

Naruto had openly gapped at him for all of five minutes. It hadn't been the alcohol that had shocked him; if they were old enough to learn how to kill then they were old enough to drink every now and then, right? But more so how Sasuke had dealt with his 'little furry problem' as they'd eventually wound up calling it, much to Kyu's annoyance.

He'd stuttered a bit about how Sasuke could be so blasé about it but the other boy had just smirked at him and asked how Naruto could be so 'blasé' about being the best friend of the last 'good' Uchiha and they'd left it at that.

Naruto's face grimed as mist from the waterfall that split the valley in two started to sneak through the trees, bringing reality with it. Those memories showcased just some of the reasons he couldn't let Sasuke do this to himself. There were hundreds, or even _thousands_, more he could think about from every day of life but for Naruto it boiled down to really just one thing.

Naruto just couldn't stand the thought of living without the sarcastic, black-haired boy. Life without Uchiha Sasuke seemed to be a dull, lifeless, depressing, and likely short form of existence for Naruto; one that would either end with Naruto dying at the hands of murderous villagers or going missing nin himself.

And, seeing as he didn't particularly want to die or ditch the village quite yet, the only reasonable course of action was to find his best friend and beat some sense into him – with extreme force if necessary.

Jumping down from the tree limbs he'd been running across, Naruto slowed his pace until he was just walking normally. Coming to the tree line, Naruto stopped just so he had some cover before shutting his eyes and sorting through the different chakras he felt around him.

The Valley of the End was an old place; one born of blood and chakra and one that had been continually steeped in both since its birth. For a chakra sensor like Naruto, that made it a rather maddening hell to sift through.

See, what most ninja didn't understand was that chakra worked like footprints. Unless you put in some extra effort, any experienced tracker could find you by your chakra imprint; imprints that were left over from battles, camouflage or even just the usage of storage scrolls.

Naruto was what you would call an experienced tracker. Due to how puny and underfed he'd been as a child, less physical things had been all he'd been able to learn from Kyu before he'd started doing missions; chakra sensing, something that even a regular civilian could do if they tried, had been perfect.

Plus, chakra imprints were rather shiny and pretty and in lieu of having another way to keep a young Naruto entertained and still as his wounds healed, Kyuubi had taught him the art to keep him occupied.

So, Naruto searched through the eons of chakra imprints only to frown when he found Sasuke's shimmery, dark blue chakra a rough four or five meters away from him; flowing and shifting without any restraint what-so-ever even though Naruto remembered having spent countless hours with the Uchiha showing him how to hide his chakra.

Because even if chakra sensing was a rare and mostly forgotten art, that didn't mean it was impossible for the enemy to have it and he'd be damned if he let Sasuke get killed because Konoha's ninjas had never bothered to do a little research.

So, that begged the question as to _why_ Sasuke wasn't hiding (or at least masking) his chakra/aura. Maybe he had given up? Dear Kami, Naruto hoped so; it would make this whole thing a hell of a lot less difficult. Though, when considering his best friend's personality, Naruto highly doubted that was the case.

Approaching the area with more caution than before, Naruto continued to walk further toward the Valley of the End until the familiar form of one black-and-midnight-blue-clad Sasuke Uchiha entered his field of vision through the fog.

Sasuke looked just as he'd always looked since Naruto had convinced him to ditch those tan shorts of his, if not just a little ruffled.

He was dressed in his typical black and dark blue, with white wrappings covering his black cargo pants from the ankle to mid-shin and his mostly bare arms wrapped from wrist to elbow. His black turtle-neck tank top was damp from the mist and his hands were covered in blue fingerless gloves that matched the ninja sandals on his feet and the short sleeved, cropped Uchiha clan jacket he wore over the tank top.

He wore no pouches of any kind around his waist or thighs but black tattoos covered his arms from the end of his wrappings to his cloth-covered shoulders and Naruto knew from experience that the pockets of his long, black cargo pants were filled with just as many sharp and pointy things as there were hidden in the storage tattoos.

Two mechanical knifes on spring-release systems were hidden under the bandages on his forearms and triggered by a subtle amount of chakra being directed to the metal. Hidden under the jacket Naruto knew the other teen had a small, more dagger-like blade strapped to his back; the jacket itself was laced with senbon needles coated in a variety of poisons.

Naruto smirked a little; you could say it would be blasphemes to ever state that Uchiha Sasuke was ever under-armed.

Upon looking closer, though, Naruto immediately noticed that something was off about the startling picture his friend cut against the mist.

If Sasuke was planning on attacking him (or even running in general) his stance should have been firmer; more controlled. His body would have been tenser and he definitely shouldn't have been looking down like some kind of shamed dog.

If Uchiha Sasuke was anything, it was prideful. Even if he knew he was making a mistake, he never, ever looked down because of it.

Naruto's frown deepened, his sky blue eyes narrowing.

There was something else wrong here as well. When he'd been young, Kyuubi hadn't just shown him chakra sensing, but emotion sensing as well. It had been a staple of his survival ever since he could remember and had saved him from liars and assassins numerous times.

It had also helped him navigate Sasuke's mood swings and avoid so many black eyes he'd lost count.

And right now it was telling him that he was right and something was wrong.

Sasuke wasn't feeling confident, or angry, or even remotely defiant. His emotional aura was dark and desolate; like it wasn't even _his_ Sasuke standing before him but some kind of suicide solider who knew that they were just cannon fodder, nothing else. It made Naruto's heart constrict. The only time he had ever felt something like this around his friend was after the Uchiha Clan Slaughter, when Sasuke had tried to seal his emotions away completely.

It had been, by far, the most horrifying thing he'd ever had to bear witness to. Watching his friend; his fucking _best_ friend, slowly and purposely try and kill himself while still living… that had been when Naruto had actually started to hate Itachi.

_But that is the past_, Naruto silently chided himself. It wasn't time to think of that. Steeling himself, Naruto schooled his features into a blank mask and moved forward, though the emotions battering him as he moved made it difficult.

Confusion. Regret. Desperation. Resignation. Betrayal. Fear. Those emotions radiated off the last "loyal" Uchiha like a dark cloud, making Naruto's heart sink and his stomach churn.

Determination swirled up in him, Naruto didn't know what was going on; but he was damned well going to find out.

Suddenly, dark onyx eyes snapped up and Naruto knew that something wasn't just wrong, something was _scarily_ wrong.

It just made him all the more pissed.

Someone had done something to cause this. To cause Sasuke, who hadn't done anything (outside of being friends with Naruto) wrong, to feel like he had to do this; like he had to leave his village, the last connection he had to his family, and go to _Orochimaru_ of all people.

Naruto could feel Kyu stir within him, her anger adding to his. Over the years the giant fox warrior lady had grown close to the youngest Uchiha, so close even that she had allowed the smaller boy to come with Naruto to meet her in the blonde's dreamscape.

She felt just as outraged as he did over the current situation.

"Sasuke." Naruto said; his voice was just above a whisper as he inched close to the Uchiha. "What in the name of Kyuubi is going on here?"

Naruto knew his voice was wavering, caught somewhere between anger and disappointment; he just couldn't bring himself to care about it.

Sasuke flinched slightly, his years of training his body and emotions to be disconnected seemingly failing him for a moment.

Reaching into one of the many pockets that lined his left leg, Sasuke silently pulled out a small scroll about the size of a pen, backed by red paper and marked with the stamp of Konoha on the front. With dark eyes and silent lips, the youngest Uchiha soundlessly held it out to Naruto.

Naruto glanced curiously at his friend, his confidant and, in some cases, protector; as though hoping to find answers in the youngest Uchiha's eyes. Something here wasn't right, this whole day hadn't been right! Everything from then to now was wrong and Naruto was sincerely hoping that this little scroll would clue him in to what it was that was so wrong.

Gingerly, Naruto opened the little red scroll, his emotions reeling as his eyes took in every detail.

The paper was a creamy white, smooth and high quality. The seal in the corner was that of Konoha, printed in a pristine, perfect black; as were the words and signature at the bottom. But of course it would be, it was that of Tsunade Senju: the most recent Hokage of Konoha and rumored to be the most competent since the Yondamie had passed.

None of this bothered Naruto; truth be told he was rather fond of the affectionately nicknamed "old hag" and it wasn't unusual for either he or Sasuke to receive little scrolls like this inviting them to her office for a chat or for a new mission. No, what bothered the blonde jinchuriki was the mission written on the scroll itself.

His hands shaking with repressed rage, Naruto barely caught the whisper of sound that had come from the other boy.

"That's what she gave me when I went to her office two nights ago; you know, when I said I went for a walk. She said I would be the most believable because of the curse seal, and Itachi…" Sasuke's voice broke and Naruto felt his heart do the same, but he kept his eyes diligently on the scroll; unable to look up confirm the words written on it.

In his mind's eye, Naruto could see how Sasuke looked right then even if his eyes were still on the scroll.

The ravenette would be biting his lower lip, looking over his shoulder or off into space; anywhere but at Naruto or the ground. His hands would be busy; maybe with rubbing his thumb over one of the many buttons on his pants or fiddling with his shirt edge. Or perhaps he would have given into the temptation and started twirling one of his ridiculously dangerous senbon around his fingers like a drumstick.

All Naruto really knew was that it would be a heartbreaking sight.

"I'm not my brother, Naruto… I don't know what to do."

Naruto, even with his demonically enhanced hearing, could just barely make out the last part, and that just made him all the more furious.

Uchihas, while quiet creatures by nature, were not into muffling their words; let alone Uchiha Sasuke, the first of the clan to laugh freely in public in recent memory.

Faintly, he recognized Kyu whining inside him and immediately opened his mind to her, allowing her to experience what he did and then allowing her vicious growls to fuel his own ire.

_How dare that, that… __**bitch**__ try and pull something like this?_ Naruto thought murderously, his hand crumpling the edges of the scroll remorselessly.

That crap; no, that utter _shit_, about Sasuke being the most believable because of a seal he had been fighting since he had received it and the absolute fucking _shit_ about him using his revenge on his brother as a motive...

Grief and betrayal ripped through him next, a little after his rage subsided enough for him to remember who this Hokage-_Bitch_ was.

Taking in a deep breath, Naruto rolled up the scroll and shoved aside his more aggressive emotions. He would deal with those later, preferably when he was able to destroy something. Right now he and Sasuke needed to find out what they were going to do.

Because really, like he'd just leave Sasuke to this sad excuse of a mission and carry on with his life like the scroll said. What was that woman, stupid or just fucking _blind_?

With a strained smile that was more borderline grimace than anything else, Naruto looked up at his friend. Sasuke met his gaze and for a second, Naruto wondered how he had missed the tears that had gathered in their endless blackness.

"I just want you to know before we do this that she had no right to authorize this kind of mission to a chunin, no matter how bloody talented or 'likely' they are." Naruto said, his voice thick with choked emotion and yet eerily calm all the same.

Sasuke's eyes flashed with something that Naruto could only describe as guilty hope. "So I take it that means you're coming with me, no way to try and trick you out of it?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow in faked amusement.

"What? And let you break your promise about protecting me for those bloodthirsty villagers? Oh no, I'm not letting you back out it that easily! Even if it means sticking with you all through this stupid undercover job in Oto, you got that Uchiha?" Naruto finished, a bitter grin splitting his face.

They stood like that for a moment; the fog swirling around them and clinging to their clothes and weapons like old memories or lost lovers, both of them trying to gather up the courage that they would need to cut their ties and leave.

Slowly, almost like it physically pained him, Naruto brought a kunai up to the fabric part of his headband and cut it; letting it slide into his hand as it fell from its previous position of pride on his left bicep.

Sasuke copied his actions moments later, gently snipping his from around his waist and then grasping it in his right hand.

With the grace of practiced dancers both of them slashed through the Konoha symbols on their headbands in tandem before dropping them like hot rocks into the dirt. With one last look at the gleaming metal they turned their backs in one smooth movement before disappearing into the mist.

There. It was done. Six years of blood, sweat and tears now slowly soaking in the muddy ground behind them.

And Naruto couldn't muster up anything other than detached sorrow.

_Heh_, he thought as he casually reached over to grasp Sasuke's hand in his, to show some small form of comfort to the other, _this must be what betrayal does to you_.

* * *

><p>Hours later, when the last still battle-capable members of the Sasuke Retrieval Mission managed to drag themselves to the Valley of the End after watching as each and every one of the Oto nins slunk into the trees after defeating their respective chunin (something that miffed Gaara to no end; who put a bunch of relatively new chunin up against a bunch of likely-more-trained enemy nin?), they came to a site that looked nothing like they'd expected.<p>

Instead of a thrashed battle field, a rather peaceful looking scene stood before them, the serenity only marred only by a pair of decimated forehead protectors and the remains of a scroll that had disintegrated upon touching the water-soaked ground.

()

* * *

><p><strong>Okay! I'm really very sorry about the wait on this thing, *glares at computer monitor* but it just didn't seem to want to be written! Plus, I've also had a shit load of crap to catch up on in school so I haven't had much time to sleep, never mind write!<strong>

**Anyway, I want to tell everyone who Reviewed/Alerted/Favorited that the first chapter of this stories completely beat all out my other story's first chapters!**

**Keep up the great work and please review!**

**Also, thank TheVastEmptiness for so awesomely betaing this! **

**Bye!**

**Sincerely,**

**BlackRoseGirl666**


	3. Chorus

**Lie awake in bed at night  
>And think about your life<br>Do you want to be different?  
>Try to let go of the truth<br>The battles of your youth  
>'Cause this is just a game<strong>

**It's a beautiful lie  
>It's the perfect denial<br>Such a beautiful lie to believe in  
>So beautiful, beautiful it makes me<strong>

**It's time to forget about the past  
>To wash away what happened last<br>Hide behind an empty face  
>Don't ask too much, just say<br>'Cause this is just a game**

**- A Beautiful Lie, 30 Seconds To Mars**

* * *

><p><strong>(Five Years Later)<strong>

Tsunade Senju, the Fifth Hokage of Konoha by very little will of her own, was known as an all-around strong woman. So much so in fact, that very few tested her patience and those who did rarely ever walked away without aide. This image, when compared to the still youthful, yet somehow painfully old woman whose whiskey eyes regarded the sprawling village outside her window with a twister of dark emotions, made a startling – if not scary – contrast.

Some people, usually ones who had lived pleasant lives but liked to think themselves somewhat wise, thought that five years – in comparison to life in general – wasn't a staggeringly long time. They also liked to think it was not a span in which something could change very drastically.

Tsunade Senju – and, perhaps, even the village she presided over – would be a sharp smack to the theological faces of those people.

Rubbing her eyes irritably, the still-beautiful blonde relaxed back into her chair and directed those sharp whisky eyes to a black-framed photograph on her desk, dulling their amber tones instantly. The frame showcased an image of a typical sunny Konoha day, the background containing the Hokage monument in all its glory as well as a bit of the skyline of the village, while the foreground contained two boys: young, grinning, and all-too-pleased with themselves.

They stood together with easy camaraderie flowing between them, arms thrown casually over each other's shoulders and sides stuck close together only because the pose demanded it. Or at least, that's what it seemed, the blonde lady thought. To someone with a little more skill at reading body language there were hints of something else in that hold, something that had made her smile at the time of the picture because it had reassured her that so long as they stuck together, they wouldn't be alone.

With a bitter noise accenting her mood, she guessed she'd been right.

They were both dressed simply and typically for a ninja off-duty but someone who knew the two, or even just the social workings of Konoha with any familiarity, would recognize that both had chosen their clothes to aggravate and amuse.

Tsunade smirked as she gently scooped up the picture. The blonde's, Naruto's, shirt was a perfect example.

It was your usual long-sleeved T-shirt; pitch black in colour with a modest scoop neck and sold in every ninja and civilian clothing shop all over the village, but for the image on its front. In a shade of kill-me-orange, the cartoonish figure of a nine-tailed fox grinned from the black of the shirt, ruby eyes teasing and a pinkish tongue lolling out over black lips.

Thinking back, the amount of havoc that one shirt had caused was utterly ridiculous. Sure, it was a little insensitive to anyone who'd lost someone in the Kyuubi Attack (which seemed to be _everyone_), but it wasn't like _they_ were any more sensitive to Naruto. When she'd heard what the brat had been through before she'd become Hokage and started enforcing the rules, she had nearly thrown a fit.

Letting the kid wear the shirt around and about had been part of her own revenge; not that politics would let her admit it.

When she'd told the blonde and his best friend that (the same day the Council had announced that they were dropping the case to have the shirt removed as contraband, because even _they_ thought that was silly), the both of them had laughed so hard she swore she could still hear their voices reverberating around the tower; Naruto's unabashed howling laugh (so painfully much like his father's) followed not far behind by Sasuke quieter, sharper, snickers.

It stung her to think that it wasn't socially acceptable to mention either of them anymore; alcohol in the wound made by her own mistake, if you will. Her only solace was that it was almost time to unveil that mistake to the rest of the world and let the boys be put to rest at last.

Returning the picture to its place in the corner of her desk, the blonde pulled out a generous bottle of sake from one of her many drawers and set to popping the lid, taking a long swig not a moment after the seal was broken.

Once upon a time a particularly annoying blonde with bright sapphire eyes might have come running in to tease her about her reliance on drink; but now, just like the rest of her important people, he was far out of her reach.

Smirking bitterly Tsunade took another long drink of her sake and closed her tired eyes, visions of the past dancing across the artificial darkness like a motion picture.

It had started with the idiocy of the Council, of course. The old biddies had gotten up-in-arms about how nothing was being done to stop Orochimaru; about how Konoha was losing its reputation as the best due all their "hesitance" and "doddering". They'd been pressuring her about it for ages, even going so far as to blame it on her being a kunoichi instead of a male ninja and her drinking (which was the more reasonable of their jabs).

So, when the outline of the mission had arrived one dark morning on her desk, she had raged at its stupidity. She'd cursed it and tossed it in the bin and almost dumped a bottle of sake over it before deciding that would be a waste.

And then…

And then she had thought about it. Sasuke was quite talented, wasn't he? His cover would be perfect and especially hard to break, as no one would ever know the real story. All that would really be required for him to do was listen, something he already did excellently.

She'd signed it in a moment of weakness, the Council's taunts in her ears and sake on her breath. She'd sent it express back to the Council, where she was sure they'd given their confirmed permission without a second glance.

A day later Sasuke Uchiha was standing in her office, dark eyes shining with confusion and trust that had quickly shifted to abject horror and then, simply nothing. She'd given him the scroll, outlined the mission, and told him to be ready to leave within the week. She'd wished him luck and been met with polite silence.

Three days later, she received word from some chunin grunt or another that 'the last loyal Uchiha' had run off to join Orochimaru. What the grunt hadn't known was that the paling of her face hadn't been at the news, but rather at the fact that she had ordered it to happen.

As soon as the Sasuke Retrieval Mission had left her sight she'd started with the sake, chugging it down until she made little sense even to herself, thinking it would soften the blow of the reports that would be coming back to her.

Little did she know, that had simply been a beautiful lie.

* * *

><p><strong>Saints born together to fight against their holy fables<br>The streets are where we pray  
>Hymns for the lonely, wretched, and forgotten<br>The feeling in our hearts won't ever fade away**

**We stand tall (united)  
>Watch them fall (divided)<br>Break the chains and now we'll show them all (fight)**

**Fight for all you know  
>When your backs against the wall<br>Stand against the liars  
>Stronger than before<br>When your life becomes a war  
>Set the world on fire<strong>

**-Set the World On Fire, Black Veil Brides**

* * *

><p>Sasuke drug in a heavy breath as he lunged back into the fray once more, the sounds of battle clashing in his head and drowning out all else as his sharingan spun wildly in his eyes. He sliced a man's throat ruthlessly with his kunai, his less prominent senses simultaneously searching out his comrades' chakra signatures.<p>

Ducking as another ninja came at him; Sasuke gracefully avoided a slash to his side and retaliated by burying the kunai deep in the man's femoral artery. The man fell to the ground howling but Sasuke paid him no mind, instead turning on his heel and taking off the direction his senses told him had the highest concentration of chakra energy. The enemy ninja would bleed out soon enough.

Casting a quick glance over the surrounding area, Sasuke nodded to himself. This part of Otogakure, a base that's main purpose was holding captive ninja before they were taken for experimentation, was done. The only people left were either allied ninja starting the clean up or dying enemies, those who were allied though unable to fight having already been evacuated before the takeover had begun.

Picking up more speed, Sasuke became nothing but a blur to those watching as he moved silently through the nearly-deserted streets of the Oto base; a small, pleased smirk curling his soft lips.

Looking back, he couldn't help but be content with how things over the last five years had gone.

The plans he and Naruto had hatched as determined eleven year olds were blooming beautifully; the painful years of playing perfect students to Orochimaru and locking away their morals all becoming so very worth it in just a number of days.

After all their spying, all their tears, all their sweat and pain and blood: finally, the end was in sight!

It had seemed like such a far-fetched dream all those years ago; five, to be exact. A dream to kill Orochimaru and turn his "village" (more a collection of scattered hellholes) into what its motto promised: a place safe from the politics of the Five Great Nations where shinobi with strange abilities could learn and live without fear.

They were making to turn Hell into a haven. Ambitious to say the least, Sasuke thought with a small smile.

That first year had been terrifying, he remembered. He and Naruto kept themselves hidden close by in Orochimaru's shadow, learning the true horrors that the many bases of Otogakure held and pinpointing each individual base's weak points.

Next they had begun the painstaking job of finding accomplices, of ferreting out who wanted to be free, who genuinely sided with Orochimaru, and who was up for sale. They had made covert journeys to Sand and smaller ninja villages in the area, asking for their opinions and aide. They had pulled every string they could think of until, finally, they had amassed a deadly, cohesive force dedicated to only one objective: getting rid of Orochimaru and his evil.

The time that hadn't been spent marshaling their forces had been devoted to winning Orochimaru's trust. Becoming his perfect disciples, his most adoring pupils, so that he would teach them everything he never would have originally. It had been spent lying and manipulating and, oddly enough, forming unbreakable ties with people they would have never known once upon a time.

And, finally, it was now all coming to fruition.

_In comparison to all that_, Sasuke thought, stepping over the body of another of Orochimaru's loyal ninja, _killing the snake is coming to be the easiest thing on the list._

_Or, _he amended, _it will be, once everyone gets here._

Currently, the leaders of the Exile Alliance (as they had taken to calling themselves, if only for the fact that every one of them had been kicked out of somewhere for some reason) were all split up amongst the many different bases Orochimaru had; spread everywhere from his main base in the Country of Rice, where Sasuke was, to his lesser ones in Lightning and Rain. Naruto and Gaara (who had arrived with a small army of highly trained Suna-ninja to help kick things off) had split off from Sasuke hours ago – their mission to make sure Orochimaru didn't run off – along with a team of Oto-ninja who wanted Orochimaru's blood and a few other more prominent Exile Alliance members.

Gaara's siblings, Kankuro and Temari, were already in Rain and Lightning with their own respective armies, destroying bases there with the help of pre-planned guides who had either worked at or been experiments within the bases against their own will. Others, such as those who made up the Alliances' intricate spy network, were keeping word of the takeover from escaping beyond those nations who had already been informed while the healers were setting up shop in any somewhat safe place they could find.

Sasuke had been charged with the job of leading the secondary attack and essentially cleaning up any messes the first attack had missed. Seeing as that was mostly done, he was now trying to hunt down the rest of his comrades so they could obliterate Orochimaru once and for all.

He was just turning onto the above ground road that led to Orochimaru's private apartments, where he was sensing his comrades' chakra signatures from, when a splotch of red raced over his vision accompanied by an all-consuming boom.

The earth trembled around him as Sasuke pushed towards the minor earthquake's approximate epicenter, desperation fueling his movements almost as much as chakra. Red, Sasuke thought dazedly, was a bad color.

When he and Naruto had first been forced to come to Oto, in those first few horrendous months, they had come up with a system. It worked through a balance of chakra sensing, Naruto's empathy ability (which could be mimicked with a specific jutsu–seal they'd found), and a bonding scroll they had come across in Orochimaru's rather impressive library. The basic premise was that when either of the two felt a particularly strong emotion (i.e. anger, exhaustion, happiness), the one on the other end of the bond would see a flash of colour corresponding with their partner's emotional status.

It had been a pain in the ass finding out which colors meant what, Sasuke would admit – and there were also situations he could think of when seeing a splotch of color for a second instead of the world around you could be dangerous – but for them, and a few other partner teams they'd shared their secret with, it was invaluable.

Now would be a prime example.

The blonde was exhausted, perhaps dealing with border-line chakra depletion judging from the shade of red Sasuke had seen. That meant that Naruto had either just gone in for a final attack, which he wasn't supposed to do until Sasuke and Itachi (_yes_, that Itachi) had arrived to back him up, or that Naruto had been forced to call on Kyuubi. Either way would explain the sound he'd heard, though neither option was particularly preferred.

Biting down hard on his lower lip, Sasuke willed himself to go faster, something like panic churning in his guts.

He and Naruto had grown close over the years, closer than any kind of brother or friend could ever hope to be. Seeing that flash of red during such a dangerous situation made Sasuke want to maim himself for not being beside the blonde. Naruto, in such a short about of time, had become his everything.

He didn't want to think of what kind of life, if there was any kind at all, he would be able to live without his blond.

Sasuke came to a dead stop as he caught his first sight of what was left of Orochimaru's apartments, the sheer carnage putting his mind on hold for a moment as his eyes fought to catch sight of everything at once.

Blood, fire, assorted debris, and bodies lay spread about haphazardly in the dirt; seemingly tossed around like they were the toys of a child's play-battle set. A few of the more notable bodies were those of Tayuya and Jirobo, whose individual clothing stood stark against the uniformity of the unconscious (dead?) Suna and Sound-ninja they lay amongst.

Sasuke looked about quickly, his eyes scanning, searching for two people above all others. His feet never stopped moving as he dashed about the battlefield, not particularly caring about the traps he might accidently set off in his worry.

_Naruto, where was he? And that fucking snake, Orochimaru, wait – there! _

Sasuke darted around to the back of the house, where a crater had formed, the roof of the housing unit half fallen in as though Kami himself had decided to punch just that half of the building into the dirt. Orochimaru's body sat in the center, breathing in bloody, sputtering gasps; huge chunks of some sort of burning flesh (Manda? The chunks were too disfigured to tell) scattered around him.

Naruto, Itachi, Garra, Ukon, Sakon, and Kidomaru all stood around the Sannin in a somewhat uneven circle formation. They were all disheveled and not just bleeding but looking as though they had simply been dipped in blood. Sakon and Ukon leant heavily on each other, having separated into different bodies at some point, while Itachi had dropped to a crouch and Garra used his sand to help support himself. Kidomaru was missing an arm and wheezing, blood dribbling from his lips as he fought to keep himself standing while Naruto, Sasuke's precious blond, seemed to radiate demonic energy; his eyes a sharp, bloody red.

Unusually red, demonic eyes met Sasuke's own sharingan red ones.

Weapons were redrawn, or shifted, in tense hands.

The signal was given.

They all moved at once.

Blood was spilled.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello! I hope you've all been well and are in the mood to review! Anyway, I hope everyone likes this and doesn't get mad at me for lateness!<strong>

**Special thanks to everyone who Reviewed/Alerted/Favourited and I hope you all continue to give me feedback! (Hopefully good feedback!)**

**Super-duper special thanks to my wonderful beta as well, the most awesome TheVastEmptiness!**

**Please Review!**

**Bye!**

**BlackRoseGirl666**


	4. Verse

**Some things we don't talk about  
>better do without<br>just hold a smile  
>we're falling in and out of love<br>the same damn problem**

**together all the while  
>you can never say never<br>why we don't know when  
>time and time again<br>younger now then we were before  
>don't let me go,<br>don't let me go,  
>don't let me go,<br>don't let me go,  
>don't let me go,<br>don't let me go**

**- Never say Never, The Fray**

* * *

><p>With a soundless noise Itachi dropped to his knees, the kunai in his hand (bloodstained, like the rest of him) falling from his numb fingers as his eyes stared disbelievingly at the mutilated, breathless remains of Orochimaru.<p>

How had things changed so fast? He wondered, perhaps a little bemusedly as he sat there on the bloody ground. It was funny, really; when you thought about it.

One moment you could be going through a forest, returning from some mission or another that you really cared nothing about, awaiting the day your little brother came to slaughter you for being manipulated into killing your own family. The next moment you could be caught up in the coup d'état for the ages and slowly, ever so painfully, be rebuilding your relationship with that same little brother.

The elder Uchiha's lips twitched, straining into a somewhat dazed grin; the first one to break his mask of cold indifference in years. Kicking his legs out in front of him, the 23-year-old rested back on his hands, uncaring of the pained twinges his aching limbs gave out. Slowly, almost cautiously, he took in the expressions of his comrades (friends?) as they realized what they'd just done and what it meant.

Gaara was blinking owlishly, sitting in a cushion of sand because his legs couldn't keep him up anymore with a small, unnoticeably smug smile on his face. Sakon and Ukon had fused back into one and were speaking to each other in hushed tones, a hand each on their shared neck. Kidomaru was chuckling darkly, one hand clamped to his new stump, which still gushed blood through his fingers.

His little brother, thoroughly mussed from his prior battles as well as this last one, was wrapped securely in the arms of the leader of the whole fiasco; one Naruto Uzumaki, though those who hadn't seen him since the seal holding Kyuubi had been broken might have had a hard time recognizing him.

Still, even with his different looks, it was ridiculous to think that this one kid had brought about the change needed to get rid of a shinobi some thought immortal. It was laughable, really; so much so that Itachi couldn't help but chuckle to himself, much to the amusement of the group around him.

Shaking his head Itachi began the job of pulling himself to his feet, the others doing similarly once they saw him moving, using each other to support their weakened bodies. After all, just because Orochimaru was dead (and fuck did _that_ feel good to say, even if just in the confines of his head) didn't mean there wasn't still work to do.

Meetings and speeches; decrees and elections; politics abound, really. Of course, that could only take place once the bodies were cleared away, meaning they'd have to cordon off an official graveyard somewhere, probably one of the least fun jobs ever invented, as well as get some kind of cohesive hospital set up, not so much for the injured but to see which, if any, of those subjected to Orochimaru's twisted imagination would live and at what level of ability.

The eldest Uchiha snuffed out a shudder as he thought of the things he'd seen, even briefly, in the labs. Sakon, Ukon, and Kidomaru had probably gotten off the best of any of Orochimaru's toys, and that was only because their kekkei genkais had worked _with_ the changes, not against them.

There had been many of whom they'd liberated who had simply been too weakened to fight, either by the conditions in which they'd been kept or by what had been done to them. Others had just been children and teens, runaways and exiles, some barely trained, who'd felt they'd had no choice but to go with the man who'd promised them food, shelter, and power. Orochimaru had preyed on the outcasts, it seemed.

Oddly enough, it had been Deidara who'd been put in command of the evacuation of the people who were unable to fight. The blonde had fought for the position with more passion than anyone had seen from him since Sasori had been killed, declaring that "as a fellow freak" he'd know how to best go about it. Also, who could cause a better distraction than he could?

No one had argued, not just because the younger blonde had made some strong points, but because they'd been surprised to hear him speak so vehemently.

The blonde, who had once been one of the loudest, most outspoken people Itachi had ever been inclined to know, had seemed to cave in on himself ever since his "Danna" had died. It was a sad thing to watch and left Itachi feeling oddly frustrated every time another piece of the blonde seemed to drift away in his sadness.

It was like they were losing the artist right before their eyes, one explosion-less day at a time.

As if to prove this to himself, Itachi's brain reminded him that the explosions Deidara had set off as a distraction had been the first the explosives expert had activated in months. There'd been no joy to the bombs either, no pride in them. Fuck, unless it had been strictly necessary, the clay he'd used hadn't even been in any discernible shapes.

It had been unbearably sad to watch, especially for those who had known and worked with the bomber. Hell, even _Gaara_, whom Deidara had nearly killed, had seemed disappointed.

Art had also become a taboo subject as well; to the point that the mere mention of it could send Deidara off on his own for hours at a time. The bomber never even played with his clay anymore due to the aversion, something he'd used to do near-constantly.

All of this, along with the disappearance of Deidara's smile and yes, even his annoying ramblings, made Itachi feel strange inside.

He wanted to protect the blonde, to keep him from hurting, but at the same time he felt terribly frustrated and almost… _jealous_ at the feelings the blonde seemed to still carry for Sasori. He sometimes found himself wondering how the bomber would have reacted if it had been Itachi who had died, which usually left him feeling weirdly angry.

Though, it left him nowhere _near_ as angry as he had been when Kankuro had made a pass at the blonde during a planning session a few months ago. To this day Itachi's blood still boiled at the thought of it.

Of course Deidara, in his sullen state, had answered with nothing more than an icy look before continuing on with the outline he'd been presenting to the rest of them. Itachi, on the other hand, had felt his killing intent spike to previously unknown levels. As a result, almost everyone in the room had thought their meeting had been found out until Deidara himself had kicked Itachi under the table and told him to "knock it off, un."

And he _still _didn't know why he'd reacted that way.

"Well, that went better than expected." Itachi snorted as Naruto's voice brought him out of his memories. Leave it to the blonde to say something like that after taking down Orochimaru of the Sannin, one of the most powerful shinobi to walk the earth.

Looking over to his right he saw that Gaara's stoic lips were twitching with mirth along with Sakon and Ukon, who were both grinning from ear to ear. Kidomaru stood behind the three, a grin on his face even as he focused his chakra to divert blood flow from his wounded arm.

Turning away from the group, he sought out his younger brother's smaller form only to find him leaning against Naruto; a small, dazed smile on his bloody face as he clung to the older blonde's shoulder, seemingly unaware of the arm Naruto had wrapped possessively around his waist.

Itachi felt his own smile reappear at the scene. Sure, some inner older brother instinct made him want to put the fear of Kami into the blonde who seemed to have such ease touching his baby brother, but then wasn't Naruto half the reason Sasuke wasn't out to kill him?

Itachi smiled as he thought back to the day that had irrefutably changed his future.

_A four years younger Itachi Uchiha moved silently amongst the tree branches as he made his way to the check point he and his partner, Kisame Hoshigaki, had set up in the case they got separated during their mission. Kisame had dropped back about an hour ago to check on a particularly high spike of chakra deeper within the forest, leaving Itachi with instructions to meet up at the river and make camp. _

_Pausing on the nearest branch, Itachi cast a slow glance about the forest. He wasn't sure if it was just paranoia from not having a partner beside him, but he could have sworn – _

"_Over here!"_

_Whipping around, the nineteen-year-old set himself in a fighting stance, sharingan activated as he made ready to attack. So it wasn't just paranoia, then. _

_Standing maybe two meters away from him were a pair of what had to be ninja. They stood maybe five-seven and five-nine, respectively, and were dressed identically in black, sleeveless cloaks that fell to the knee, hoods hiding their faces._

_Itachi's eyes narrowed. There was nothing hostile in their stances, but something niggled at the back of his mind, telling him to hold any attack. These two were more than they seemed. _

_Deciding the best route to go by would simply be seeing what they wanted, Itachi allowed himself to mirror their stance. After all, if they turned out to be threats he was sure his sharingan would be enough to eliminate them._

_He didn't allow himself to believe that he was curious. _

"_Who are you and what do you want?" The question was pitched at his usual indifferent tone; betraying nothing whilst fishing for the answers to the two most important questions a ninja could ever be asked._

_The taller one answered, confirming Itachi's assumption that he was the one to call out as well. _

_"We have a proposition for you." The stranger stated, a mischievous, casual feeling to his voice; as though this whole meeting were nothing but a delightful triviality. His partner remained silent, though stirrings of tension in his frame denoted that they possibly wanted to speak as well._

_And why didn't he? This meeting was far too strange for Itachi's taste. _

"_You do? And why would I be interested in this 'proposition?'" He let his tone just barely touch on mockery, a test to see what kind of temperament (or sense of restraint) the pair had. _

_"Well,_ _it involves the end of a certain Snake Sannin." __If he could have seen the taller one's face, who he got the sense was the mouthpiece of the pair, he bet he would have seen smirk on the man's lips._

_As it was though, Itachi simply focused on keeping his expressions masked. Someone was actually trying to get rid of Orochimaru? It couldn't be Konoha, Itachi thought. The Village Hidden in the Leaves had never asked for outside help in killing the Sannin before, and certainly they would have never come to him. Konoha also wasn't very much for the cloak and dagger approach, which these two practically radiated._

_So that left the question of whom they represented and why they wanted Orochimaru dead in the first place._

_Focusing at keeping his voice as cold and indifferent as it had originally been, Itachi made to retort._

_"Oh? And what makes you think I would be interested in something of that nature?" _

_The second person pulled down the hood of their cloak, showing the older version of a face he'd thought he'd never see unless it was contorted in rage and coming to kill him._

"_Because, aniki," his baby brother said, "we know you."_

Itachi was shaken from his reverie, once again, by the booming voice of a ninja once known as Konoha's Dead Last.

_How inaccurate,_ the missing-nin thought, watching in a vague sense of amusement as the younger ninja began outlining their new objectives, ticking them off on his fingers as to not forget anything. It could be noted that Sasuke didn't leave his side the entire time, as well.

"First things first, I want anyone still alive off this battlefield. Gaara, can you manage that using your sand?" The red head gave a short nod, manipulating said element into a kind of platform to which Naruto gave a nod of approval.

"Perfect. Kidomaru, are you up to going with him?" The man gave a short, grateful nod; dashing off immediately, likely to go search for the two missing members of the former Sound Four, Jirobo and Tayuya, who'd been tossed off somewhere during the battle.

Absently, Itachi wondered what the likelihood of finding them alive would be. He'd rather liked the two, especially when they hadn't bothered putting on the masks they reserved for Orochimaru and their enemies. The same could be said for the rest of the Sound Four as well.

"Itachi, could you go to Deidara and give him an update? Sakon and Ukon, can you gather up some of our allies and do a final sweep of this place? I want to make sure we got all of the bastard's nasty little surprises out before we start moving people back in." The blonde took a second to see that his in-suggestion-form-orders were being followed before moving on to the next thing.

"Sasuke and I are going to go find Kyu and give her an update. Once you're finished meet up at Record Building 3 so we can plan out our next move. Spread it around to the rest of the Alliance members you come across too, please."

The blonde grinned then; a bright, happy thing some of them hadn't ever seen before and others remembered vaguely as something he'd done a lot before Konoha's betrayal of him and Sasuke.

"I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait until today is over and I can finally get some ramen so let's get moving!" With that final declaration, accented by an energetic fist pump, the blonde bounced off; ignoring both the snickers his comment had caused around the group and Sasuke's calls to slow down and not do anything stupid.

Itachi allowed himself one more smile before giving a last nod to his comrades and darting off in the direction of the hideout they'd set up for the evacuees, a generally happy feeling competing with what might have been nerves at seeing Deidara once again.

It seemed that life was finally going according to plan again. _Dear spirits, _the ninja prayed, for the first time in years, _don't let anything fuck it up._

* * *

><p>Perhaps a scant hour earlier that morning saw one Anko Mitarashi charging along the roofs of Konoha's central district, moving blindly towards the Hokage's Tower. Her hand was clamped to the pale skin of where her shoulder met her neck, which for the first time in years was free of a certain mark.<p>

It was a freedom that told anyone with any sense one thing.

Orochimaru was _dead_.

And they didn't know who had done it.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello again and thank you for your patience! I hope people are a little less confused about the involvement of certain characters thanks to this chapter and also to warn you that there will most likely be quite a few flashbacks in upcoming chapters! Anyway, thanks for <strong>

**reviewing/favouriting/alerting and I hope that you all love this chapter!**

**Also, give a big hand to the amazing TheVastEmptiness! The most wonderful beta ever!**

**Please Review!**

**Bye!**

**BlackRoseGirl666**


	5. Bridge

**Maybe I'm a dreamer  
>Maybe I'm misunderstood<br>Maybe you're not seeing the side of me you should  
>Maybe I'm crazy<br>(Maybe I'm crazy)  
>Maybe I'm the only one<br>(Maybe I'm the only one)  
>Maybe I'm just out of touch<br>Maybe I've just had enough**

**Maybe it's time to change  
>And leave it all behind<br>I've never been one to walk alone  
>I've always been scared to try<br>So why does it feel so wrong  
>To reach for something more<br>To wanna live a better life  
>What am I waiting for?<br>'Cause nothing stays the same  
>Maybe it's time to change<strong>

**-Maybe, Sick Puppies**

* * *

><p>Kyu was in her human form when they found her. Her tails and fox ears were hidden with the aide of her Kitsune illusionary magic, leaving behind the image of a willowy, entrancingly beautiful woman dressed in blood-red battle robes and armor vaguely reminiscent of an ancient samurai's. The war lady had commandeered one of the few aboveground buildings scattered about this particular base and, upon seeing the pair, she had welcomed them in with all the hugs and kisses expected from a mother seeing her children home after their first day of high school.<p>

"So, how was your little take over?" She asked, barely able to keep the excitement out of her voice as she pulled out a couple of chairs for the boys before taking her own seat behind the desk.

The building was not particularly grand, but it had plenty of windows and would suit her needs until her boys really began work on the village. Besides, Kyu thought, she'd already gotten rid of the body the office had belonged to, not wanting stains. She might as well not let that effort go to waste.

Naruto chuckled at her words, prompting a complimenting smile from the usually-reserved Sasuke Uchiha as well. Kyu joined in with the happy expressions, though her smile was more at how cute the pair looked together than anything else. She hoped her kit had enough sense to keep the younger Uchiha close. If not, Naruto might just find someone had snapped the boy up before he even realized what was going on.

Oblivious to her thoughts, the blond leapt into an animated report of the events of the day. "Oh, it went perfectly Kyu! Orochimaru went down without too much difficulty-"

He was cut off by the ravenette's snort. "Yeah, if you call looking like someone ran you through a blender without much difficulty." Kyuubi raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow at her kit, who then rubbed his neck in a nervous gesture.

Running a critical eye over the newly semi-human child she called her own, Kyuubi noted the slight bulges under his tight black T-shirt that signified bandages. Hm, maybe she should have come for the actual battle as well...

With one last glare at his partner Sasuke turned his attention back to the demon lady and smiled comfortingly at her worried expression.

"But yes, it did go better than expected, though it does bug me just how easily Orochimaru's control on Oto fell." Sasuke said, frowning slightly. "I had thought that Orochimaru's forces would have been stronger." The ebony-haired seventeen-year-old explained.

Kyu frowned as well; it was rather strange. Orochimaru was rumored to be the strongest of the Sannin; surely he wouldn't have had such weak guards?

"Well, if old snake face did have something else up his sleeve I'm sure we'll fine it." Naruto said, flashing a bright, charmingly cocky grin. The teenager was leaning back on his chair so it balanced precariously on the back legs with his hands braced behind his head. He looked the very image of confidence.

Kyu wasn't sure whether to feel pride or tip him off balance, injuries be damned.

Before she had the chance to decide though, Naruto's voice filled the air once again, accented this time by a sharp tap as the front legs of the chair connected with the ground in result of his giving up on the task of holding his balance any longer.

"Besides," the blonde started, "we took his head clean off from his body and then Garra squashed both pieces with his sand. Even if the bastard did have some way of coming back it would be to body that looks like ground hamburger, buried in a pit some hundred feet underground. The bastard would be useless." Naruto grinned proudly while Kyu wrinkled her nose at the imagery.

Sure, she might have been the worst demon warlord to sweep through the Elemental Lands, but that didn't mean she _enjoyed_ such barbarianism.

Or at least, the description of someone_ else's_ barbarianism.

She was still a lady, after all.

Sasuke sighed and muttered a quiet "Only you, Naruto," into the palm of his hand. Said older boy grinned unabashedly and stood.

"Well Kyu, it looks like you've settled in nicely but the rest of us still have stuff to do." The blond said; a wide, unconsciously sensual smile stretching across his handsome face as he leaned down to hug the deceivingly delicate beauty in front of him.

Kyu smiled as well and hugged him back, squealing like a proud mother inwardly.

Her kit was growing up so fast! She still remembered the days when he would coming crying to her after the villagers had attacked him and how she'd hold him through the bars of her cage and rock him to sleep, singing him that old lullaby she'd made up after Minato had sealed her away.

Kyuubi no Kitsune smirked a little as she looked her adopted kit and heir apparent up and down. While he still bore a resemblance to his birth parents, most specifically his father, her blood also ran through his veins now and she was pleased to see that he bore a strong resemblance to her.

While he had retained his blond, spiky hair and cerulean blue eyes from before she had claimed him as her own, he had gained her height; standing an even seven feet now rather than the five-sixish height he would have had before. He'd also gained her more refined, distinctly royal features; something that would make life easier on him in both the human and demon worlds.

Unlike Kyu though Naruto had not gained her ethereally pale skin, but rather retained his original tan. Kyu privately thought that this was a good thing as even with his more sculpted features and newly fang-like K9s (a sign of nobility and strength amongst demons), paleness would only make her kit appear more sallow than anything else.

Unlike the effect it had on youngest Uchiha, Kyu thought appraisingly as she eyed the one she thought would become Naruto's mate once her kit got his head out of planning battles long enough to realize what was right in front of him.

Sasuke Uchiha really was a breathtaking creature. No, he was not as attention-commanding as her kit, nor was he as outwardly powerful, but anyone with open eyes could easily see that he was far more than the pretty face some might mistake him as.

Having been graced with the notorious Uchiha good looks as well as a powerful sharingan, Sasuke probably could have gotten off by simply mastering genjutsu. As it was though, the teenager had trained himself into becoming the perfect assassin; an ability that Kyuubi supported wholeheartedly. Sasuke's quiet strength and shadowy talents complemented Naruto's loud, overbearing fighting style perfectly. Their personalities, while based on the same values, were also at opposite ends of the spectrum and they were already so terribly close to each other.

And Kyu liked Sasuke, too! (This, of course, being the most important criteria for any possible romantic relationship of Naruto's) He was beautiful, powerful, and kept Naruto safe. He had a decent head on his shoulders and was delightfully wicked and witty when the mood struck him, usually when Kyu herself was there to egg him on. Was there anymore one could want in a son-in-law?

Not in her books.

Petulantly, Kyuubi decided that if her kit couldn't figure it out on his own she'd lower herself to dropping some hints. And if that didn't work, she beat him over the head until he connected the dots. Plan decided on, she turned her attention away from matchmaking and back to the outline said kit was giving her on his plans for Otogakure.

The first of these plans was to elect a council of sorts. For the present the council would be made up of people of Naruto and Sasuke's choosing, as it had been decided by unanimous vote that the two would be taking the job of Otokage together as partners, though in the future they hoped to have council members selected through some kind of village-wide voting system.

For now the Council of Exiles (named for the alliance that brought the idea of a reformed Oto into plausibility) would consist of five people: Itachi Uchiha, Kabuto Yakushi, Deidara Bakuhatsu, Tayuya Kita, and Karin Aka. Itachi was there for his all-around experience as a ninja, Kabuto for his diplomacy and spying abilities, Deidara for his attention to detail and experience with the many different hidden villages, Tayuya as a representative for the kunoichi population (seeing as she was the strongest they had come across, short of Kyu), and Karin for her medical and education expertise.

These five, and possibly more should they find someone suitable, would serve as consultants for Naruto and Sasuke. They would also make sure no one demographic was overlooked within the budding village and, basically, offer five more pairs of eyes and hands when it came to running the place.

Due to the nature of how scattered Orochimaru's bases were, the actual borders of Otogakure were still a little fuzzy, and thus the next thing on the list needing solving. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on your point of view) the greed of the Land of Rice's daimyo basically allowed them to do whatever they wanted so long as it brought in the money the bastard had been promised by Orochimaru. Thus far, they had a team staking out the agreed chunk of land given to them by said daimyo, under a blood oath that the village would be allowed to expand as the Land of Rice's wealth did.

Naruto's grin had been a perfect picture of Kyu's own bloodthirsty one when he'd explained that particular detail.

Itachi, whom Kyu was beginning to like just as much as she did his younger brother, had also worked out a way to protect their as-yet still venerable village from those who would seek to destroy it. It was a modified version of the chakra-laced rain the Amekage (who they all knew was Pein) used to sense movement within his village while he was away. Instead of having it continuously rain though, enemies would be detected via transmitted chakra-sensing sound waves that would search out and immobilize any ninja with chakra that was not recognized as a member of Oto or permitted to be within its borders.

And of course, being the genjutsu master that he was, Itachi had also put forward the idea of making it so that the future walls of Oto would transmit a continuous illusion of simple forestry to hide the village entirely. The last report Itachi had given on the idea had stated that even with both himself and Sasuke working on it, they still weren't able to make the genjutsu big enough or strong enough to last indefinitely. They were thinking of trying it with demonic chakra, but they wanted Kyu's advice first.

Then there was the standard talk that went into creating a village, such as where roads were going and buildings and other such things Kyu found rather boring. Apparently Kabuto was using his connections to have some of the best ninja-specific and civilian architects come in to help build off of what was already there (including all the underground space) or some such thing. Kyu was sure it would go smashingly even if it bored her to tears.

After the more integral construction of the village was done they would focus on moving people in, sorting abilities and shuffling people where they needed to go. As the three spoke bodies were already being cleared, one of the Alliance members deciding to just dump all the dead enemy ninja into the crater where Orochimaru's body lie and cover it once it was done, with those who had died fighting for their side or were found dead in the labs being cremated, as there were simply too many to bury them all respectfully.

While that went on, there was also the village's alliances and reputation to try and salvage.

This meant that even if the actual village was still a mess of construction and chaos, Oto needed to have a least three strong genin teams ready for the Chunin Exams, which were blessedly being hosted in Suna. So long as they didn't so much as whisper against the rules, the Exams would be a wonderful opportunity to try and gain some more respectable business.

Ame was also one of their allies, Kyu guessed, but they were almost as bad off as Oto publicly. Their village had good bones, impenetrable defenses and the like, but Pein was crazy and Konan had admitted that she wouldn't be able to hold it together for much longer. In response Naruto and Sasuke had sent Kisame to go help and Garra had sent Kankuro, so hopefully things would be getting better in that respect as well.

But all in all, Kyuubi thought as she finally saw the boys off to go start on their self-given mission, even with the incredible amount of work ahead of all of them; she couldn't help but feel happy.

She was free; her demonic energy once again within easy reach and her body able to touch and feel the outside. She had a child of her own, practically given to her by the man who'd locked her away through a strange quirk of fate, and that child was powerful and happy.

Absently, she wondered how Minato Namikaze would have reacted if he'd found out his son's new name,

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze no Kitsune.

Kyuubi smirked; she at least thought it had a nice ring to it.

* * *

><p><strong>I used to rule the world<br>Seas would rise when I gave the word  
>Now in the morning I sleep alone<br>Sweep the streets that I used to own**

**I used to roll the dice  
>Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes<br>Listen as the crowd would sing:  
>"Now the old king is dead!<br>Long live the king!"**

**One minute I held the key  
>Next the walls were closed on me<br>And I discovered that my castles stand  
>Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand<strong>

**- Viva La Vida, Coldplay**

* * *

><p>Tsunade stared in disguised shock as Anko showed the woman the pale skin of her neck; no longer any kind of mark present, let alone a curse seal. Turning to her Council, Tsunade tried her best not to smirk at the shocked looks that decorated their faces, as they had failed to hide them, and focus on the problem at hand.<p>

"Okay, so I'm going to assume that everyone knows what this means?" She asked, her whisky eyes glinting with something other than misery for the first time in years.

Stunned nods met her inquiry.

"On to the next question, then." The blonde murmured to herself. "Who did it? We sure as hell know it wasn't us." Tsunade said, clapping her hands together once in a sarcastically sweet way, her consequential grin being much the same.

"Possibly the Akatsuki?" Homura Mitokado asked from her seat in the Hokage's office.

Jiraiya snorted, "I don't think so; I would have heard about it."

"Is that so?" The old woman asked, looking blatantly disbelieving. Jiraiya sent a deathly glare at her.

Tsunade sighed tiredly and wished for her sake, her good mood dying rapidly as her former teammate and council member began to snap at each other. "What have you heard lately, Jiraiya?" She asked, not expecting much.

The Toad Sage ran a hand through his longish white hair. "Honestly? Not a whole heck of a lot. There's been a bit of a stir amongst the lower levels of ninja society – which isn't all that unusual, someone's usually trying to rock the boat down there – but the strange thing is that there's also been a stir in the civilian side of things."

Tsunade quirked a brow and sat up straighter. Surprisingly (perhaps sadly), this was the most exciting thing they'd heard since Sasuke and Naruto had left, if you didn't count Anko's recent news. "What do you mean by that?" She questioned, the other councilors leaning in closer.

Jiraiya blinked and scratched his head. "Nothing too unusual, just that there's been a bit of a missing-nin decrease throughout the Elemental Countries. It's like they've all just packed up and disappeared."

The Toad Sage frowned, "Now that you mention it, though, it is kind of weird. Especially considering that the same thing is happening with retired nin and craftsmen, and the slums are almost deserted in some areas..." The Sage said, muttering something under his breath to himself.

Tsunade gaped. How the hell did he not figure _that_ was important? She decided to voice her question.

"Jiraiya, how in the seven hells did you not figure that important?"

The Sage blinked, "Well, it's just been happening so gradually..." He let his sentence drift.

Tsunade motioned for him to continue.

Jiraiya sighed; he was getting too old for this. "First one or two drifted away from places like the Village Hidden in the Mist and then a few from Iwa and then a week or two later Kumo reported a band of five banished nin disappearing and Suna reported a couple retired puppet masters requesting permission to move and if you checked your records, I'd bet you find a few Konoha nin missing too. No one influential like Kakashi or Gai, just retired or lower ranking nin, probably ones who've filed complaints of some kind that never got looked into." Jiraiya said.

Tsunade frowned; something wasn't right here. "What about Oto, have they reported anything like this?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "Now, Oto's been very quiet recently, as has the Akatsuki for that matter. Even my informant has been tight lipped as of late."

"Your informant?" Tsunade blinked, she wasn't aware Jiraiya even had an informant in those groups.

Jiraiya nodded, "They're how I've known things about the Akatsuki in the past."

"Could he have something to do with the recent quiet that's been going around?" Homura asked, her disgust with his dealings with missing nins involved with the Akatsuki obvious in her voice.

Jiraiya glared; he didn't like this women and he didn't think he ever would. "No, he wouldn't do something like that. He's loyal." Homura nodded, if a little reluctantly.

Tsunade sighed, this wasn't going anywhere. She supposed it was time to bring up _that _subject. "Do you have a contact in Oto?"

The room got quiet for a moment, the faces of two young Chunin flashing through everyone's minds. Despite their mission, which was to infiltrate Oto lines and gather information, sending it to Konoha at monthly intervals, Konoha had never received a message from the pair and thus they had been assumed dead for the last five years.

It had become taboo to mention either ninja's name around the Hokage lest she fly into a rage and slowly that taboo had leeched into any mention of Oto as well.

Jiraiya cleared his throat and cast his eyes to the ground. "I did at one point, but I haven't heard from her in ages. The last time I spoke to her she said that things in Oto were changing yet she refused to give any more details, she said things were too delicate to speak about in that point of time."

Tsunade just sighed. This, much like everything else they had spoken about during the meeting, wasn't going anywhere.

"So, moving on to another point that we actually know something about," she sent a glare at Jiraiya who smiled sheepishly. "Do we know who we're sending to the Chunin Exams?" She asked, looking around at her "esteemed" council.

Hesitantly, Anko, who everyone had forgotten was there, stepped forward. "Yes Hokage-sama, we will be sending Team Sakura, Team Kakashi, Team Shikamaru, Team Ten-Ten and Team Neji as well as your guards and a few ninja of your choosing, I believe?" The younger women finished her statement with a question, which the older women nodded to.

"And it's being held in Suna right?" Murmurs of agreement all around.

Tsunade nodded to herself. "Okay then, someone get me a meeting with the Kazekage. I want to run over the Oto problem with him and give him a heads up about the Akatsuki."

Jiraiya, and several others around the room, winced.

The last time Tsunade and the Godaime Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara, had spoken to each other it had been just after Suna had discovered that Naruto and Sasuke, who were both frighteningly close to the temperamental Kazekage, had been sent on what he had referred to as a: "Stupid and reckless imitation of a mission designed to discourage future generations of ninja and kill off the current generation."

Least to say, Jiraiya was still surprised that Konoha was standing; never mind the fact that the alliance was still intact.

As well as that the Kazekage had actually managed to make Tsunade break down into tears without doing anything more than speaking to her, even though Jiraiya was sure he had wanted to do much, much more to the blonde Hokage, and had only stopped tearing her apart verbally because he realized, and Jiraiya quoted: "She was too worthless to even be spoken to."

After that the only kind of communication the two nations had shared for the last five-odd years had been through carrier falcons written by one of the Kazekage's siblings and, recently, a type of fancy technological thing that all the nations' Kages had been having installed and hooked up to each other.

It was a large screen that allowed Kages and anyone else who had one of the screens to do something called "video conferencing," it made things much easier because you could automatically speak to anyone with a screen in a matter of minutes and you didn't have to wait the hours or days it took to write and wait for a carrying falcon.

Obviously, it wasn't just Jiraiya who scented danger at the mention of a meeting with the Kazekage because nearly immediately after Tsunade ordered it Homura spoke up.

"Tsunade-sama, are you sure that is a good idea?" The elderly lady asked.

Jiraiya privately decided that as well as hating the old bat, he also pitied her. It was an unspoken rule of life that you did not question Tsunade when she was in one of her moods, and as seen by the red colour that was slowly overcoming the pale woman's face, Jiraiya guessed that she was in one of them.

"Listen, I said I wanted to speak to the Kazekage. I don't give a fuck what you think! This might be a matter of national security! I don't give a fuck if I don't get along with him right now! I just need to speak to him! Now get to work!"

And with that, the Godaime Hokage, one Tsunade Senju, stormed out of her office leaving a shocked, and in one case smug, council in her wake.

Safe to say that she was ready for a video-conference with the Kazekage less than an hour later.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay! I want to say hello to everyone again as well as apologize profusely to all the other people who were waiting for my other stories to be updated but unfortunately this chapter does not signify me starting up with my updates again. What happened here is that I had been bitten by a Chapter Bug (which are coincidently related to the infamous Plot Bunny) and it would not leave me alone until this chapter was finished and uploaded. (Plus, I'm desperate for reviews.)<strong>

**That said, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter (no matter how unintended it may be) and that you can all forgive me for the lack of updates.**

**So anyway, later!**

**Please review! *Puppy dog eyes to the extreme!***

**Also, make sure to thank TheVastEmptiness! Most awesome beta ever!**

**Sincerely,**

**BlackRoseGirl666**


	6. Outro

**You say you know just who I am  
>But you can't imagine<br>What waits for you across the line  
>You thought you had me<br>But I'm still here standing  
>And I'm tired of backing down<strong>

**And I'm here now feeling the pain  
>Of a thousand hearts<br>Been to hell and back again  
>I won't take this<strong>

**You try so hard to bring me down  
>You can't break the broken<br>You still don't seem to understand  
>It's your turn to see just<br>How it feels to be me  
>How it feels to be knocked down<strong>

**-Anthem For the Underdog, 12 Stones**

* * *

><p><strong>(A Couple Days Later)<strong>

Sabaku no Temari flopped lifelessly into the expensive leather chair that usually seated her younger brother, Gaara. Gaara, who, Temari decided, had crappy luck.

If he wasn't getting shot looks of fear and disgust from the old squawks in the village who _still_ resisted listening to reason and thought he was a monster, he was getting chased through the streets of Suna by obsessive fan girls bent on "mending" his heart.

Or, he was trapped in this place; signing a thousand and one worthless pieces of paper from people seemingly bent on obliterating the world's trees.

Sighing tiredly, Temari began to gently try and rub away the headache she felt encroaching on her. It really wasn't fair how she was stuck here, signing all this _crap _(because honestly, that's what it was) while her brothers got to go gallivanting across the nations helping out Naruto and Sasuke. Sure, she'd got to have a little fun destroying those bases in Lightening, but that had ended depressingly fast. Now she was stuck standing in for Gaara, doing nothing of importance, when she could have been doing something much more interesting with Kankuro and Kisame in Ame or Gaara, Naruto, and Sasuke in the newly (properly) founded Otogakure.

Temari sighed; some days it really did suck to be the responsible one.

Turning back to "her" paperwork with a resigned frown, Temari was just about to start on the small mountain of papers that needed her signature when the little red light on the sleek, black "remote control" started blinking. Temari cocked a bemused eyebrow; according to Gaara, that was only supposed to happen when he had an incoming conference call…

Putting down her pen, Temari spun around in Gaara's swivel chair and checked the not-very-detailed schedule left behind by her red headed brother. Surely Gaara wouldn't have left her to deal with another Kage without some warning…

8:00am – Get up, get dressed, and get to office.

9:00am to 11:00pm – Work.

Temari sighed and dropped the "schedule" down on "her" desk with a thump. Never let it be said that her brother was a man of many words, whether they be of the spoken variety or not.

Turning her attention back to the remote she glared at it. Her job was supposed to be simple: come in, sit down, sign things, leave.

Talking with foreign Kages was _not _part of her job description.

Sighing, Temari started cleaning up "her" desk a bit. On her third trip to the trash can she grumbled that this was one of the down sides to conferencing. While she, as an ambassador of Suna, would be one of the first to admit that this form of Kage-communication was favorable over a bunch of currier carried messages, it was also a pain knowing that you had to look nice and act formally while you talked lest they perceive you as a pig.

Temari, for all her responsibility, was not a classically "tidy" person.

Finally, after about ten minutes of frantic cleaning, Temari felt satisfied that her messy behavior would no longer disgrace her brother in the eyes of the Kages. Slipping a cool smile over her face and folding her hands on her lap she calmly hit the little glowing red button on the remote and waited a few minutes as the connection went up before the face of one Tsunade Senju appeared on the once black screen.

Temari felt that she should be proud that she didn't let her mask slip at the mere sight of the woman.

No, instead of doing that she merely straightened her posture more and regarded the Hokage with a cool, borderline cold glance.

"Hokage-sama, this is unexpected. I did not think you would be calling." Temari said, mentally patting herself on the back for not stuttering.

The Hokage slammed her hand down on her desk. "Don't give me that formal shit Temari; I get enough of that here. Now where the hell is Gaara?" The surly blonde asked. Temari barely contained her sigh.

"I apologize Hokage-sama but my brother is not in at this time." Okay, Temari was woman enough to admit that she was just being formal to piss the other blonde off now. But really, Temari didn't think it was her in the wrong.

Unless it was a matter of utmost importance, it had become common courtesy to send a messenger hawk ahead of a conference call in order to give the other Kage some warning and thinking back to her previous super cleaning; Temari thought she _really_ could have used some warning.

"Then where is he? This is important!" The other woman demanded.

Temari frowned; usually Tsunade had more control than this. Something must have shaken her.

The question was what.

And suddenly it hit her, much like the double mocha cappuccino she'd had this morning and then left on Gaara's desk, making an annoyingly stubborn to remove stain in one corner.

Anko! That woman in Konoha with curse seal! Dammit, why hadn't any of the others thought of that? It was like Konoha had their own personal warning system for when Orochimaru died! _The entire village must be crawling with paranoia over the Sannin's death_, Temari thought, thus the impromptu conference call and Tsunade's less-than-stellar show of control… fuck.

Steeling herself, Temari made the decision to stop pissing off the Hokage and start doing damage control. The problem with this plan? She didn't know how bad the damage was. They must have reasoned that the snake-bastard was dead, but had they figured out the who and how? With a mental sigh, Temari figured that was up to her to find out.

"Gaara is currently away on negotiations with another village. Why do you need to speak with him?" The younger blonde finally decided on saying, though she hated the way it made her sound like some kind of secretary. Gaara so owed her for this.

Tsunade slumped back into her chair, her anger seemingly cooling. "Is that where he is? Is Kankuro accompanying him then? If not then why are you acting as Kazekage?"

Temari purposely ignored the jab, instead addressing the women head on. "Why did you call Tsunade? I'm sick of playing with you."

The other woman straightened herself. "What do you know of Orochimaru's supposed death?"

Temari smirked; if anything, Tsunade knew how to get to the point.

"I know that he is dead and that his _'village,'_" she used the term like a curse, cringing at the memories of the things she had seen in the labs, "is now in the control of a tag-team pair of men who have taken on the mantel of Otokage." She stated, making her voice and manner purposely idle. "Last intelligence Suna received was that this pair was currently working on restoring the village back to something respectable."

Temari told herself that she didn't enjoy the look of shock on the older woman's face, but in the end she decided that she didn't want to lie to herself like that.

It had already been agreed on that if "someone" (i.e. Tsunade) came calling for Oto-related info that they were going to fill them in, albeit very vaguely.

And yes, that was Temari's definition of vague.

"How do you know all this?" The Hokage asked, the older woman's face pale and tired.

Despite this and the other signs of obvious distress the other kunoichi showed, Temari found it hard to feel bad for the woman. The story of how the Alliance was founded and the reasons behind it were well-known to its members, leaving them all with a sour taste for Konoha and for its Hokage especially.

This in mind Temari readjusted herself so that she was once again sitting with her hands folded over her lap, though this time her posture was much more rigid. Pasting a soothing smile on her face, the Wind Mistress started talking.

"Tsunade, you have to understand that Orochimaru was just too big an enemy to let live. Konoha has done nothing to assure the other villages that anything was being done. You have to see that it was only reasonable to accept when –

"Are you telling me you went behind Konoha's back and got rid of Orochimaru on your own!?" Tsunade's eyes sparkled with anger, her fists clenched with the need to smash something; her voice little more than a growl. Temari let herself glare.

"Yes, but it wasn't just Suna! Nearly every Elemental Village had something to do with Orochimaru's down fall! Hell, even Ame and Oto itself sent nins to help!" She didn't even notice the venom that clung to her words until the Hokage tried to mask a flinch.

Temari forced herself to relax.

"Things are changing, Tsunade-sama." Temari eventually murmured after a while of silence. "The Akatsuki are no more; their leader having been pacified ages ago with no help of yours. Ame is now in the control of Oto and, by extension, Suna. Many of the remaining former Akatsuki members have changed sides or disappeared. The Villages Hidden in the Sound and Rain are pulling themselves to their feet in more ways than one and I strongly suggest that you try and urge Konoha to do something wise for once and begin making alliances or at least neutral agreements with them."

Temari knew her tone was cold, maybe even biting, but in all honesty she couldn't bring herself to care. It was worth it just to see the masked shock on the other woman's face.

The deathly glare the Hokage gave her a moment later almost made Temari glad for all those years of receiving the same from Gaara. Talk about a tolerance build up.

"Well then Temari-san, would you care to tell me who exactly it is that organized all of this?"

Temari didn't' allow herself to feel any of the intimidation the Hokage was projecting through the imagery on the screen. Instead she just straightened her shoulders and looked the older woman dead in her strange, whisky-coloured eyes.

"I'm afraid, Lady Hokage, that at this point their identities are sensitive information only to be given out on a need-to-know basis." She said, pasting her sweetest, tooth rotting smile on her face.

The Hokage sneered, "Oh, and I suppose you're on that basis?"

Temari gazed distractedly at her nails, just barely restraining herself from revealing just how 'need-to-know' she was and rubbing it in the other woman's face. Instead, she just went for the vague answer once again. "As much as any other member of our alliance is, I suppose. Will that be all, Lady Hokage?"

The other blonde growled but didn't say anything more on the subject. "Yes, that is all. Goodbye, Temari-san."

Temari waited a whole ten minutes before she let her stiff posture go and flopped lifelessly into her younger brother's chair, another two having ticked by before she allowed herself to close her eyes and breathe for a moment.

This wasn't what she'd signed up for when she'd decided to pull herself along the harsh road of being a kunoichi, she mused idly. She'd thought it would get her out of Suna, away from her stressful life as the Kazekage's daughter and into some other place where she could be nameless without the guilt of contributing nothing to the village. What a laugh.

A grin trickling its way onto her face, Temari pulled herself to her feet and prepared two notes of warning – one to Gaara in Oto and the other to Kankuro in Ame – before rushing off to the aviary to send them on their way. Both fledgling villages had yet to get their conference systems up, so unfortunately messenger birds were her best option.

Once her duties were done she found her feet taking her to the very top of the Kazekage's building, her earthy brown eyes staring out into the dunes beyond Suna's borders as though she might find answers there if she looked long enough.

In reality, she was just hoping that just this once, Gaara's terrible luck wouldn't come to bite him (and all the rest of them) in the ass.

* * *

><p><strong>Regrets collect like old friends<br>Here to relive your darkest moments  
>I can see no way, I can see no way<br>And all of the ghouls come out to play**

**And every demon wants his pound of flesh  
>But I like to keep some things to myself<br>I like to keep my issues strong  
>It's always darkest before the dawn<strong>

**And I've been a fool and I've been blind  
>I can never leave the past behind<br>I can see no way, I can see no way  
>I'm always dragging that horse around<strong>

**All of these questions, such a mournful sound  
>Tonight I'm going to bury that horse in the ground<br>So I like to keep my issues strong  
>But it's always darkest before the dawn<strong>

**Shake it up, shake it out, shake it up, shake it out, ooh woaaah  
>Shake it up, shake it out, shake it up, shake it out, ooh woaaaah<strong>

**And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back  
>So shake him off, oh woah<strong>

**-Shake it Off, Florence + The Machine**

* * *

><p><strong>(Some Weeks Later)<strong>

A light breeze flew around him as Deidara absently plucked a small, flat stone from the rocky lakeshore he was stationed on. Across the cool blue basin the many refugees of Oto were gathered together in a collage of shelters brought about by specialized kekkei genkai and tents alike, medic nins and regular fighters crawling about them, their faces all tense and tormented by what they saw and the thought of what might happen if it all went to hell.

Deidara was in charge of them, and by all rights he should have been right in the middle of that muddled, bloody mess, but he'd been doing so on minimal rest for the last three weeks since Oto's takeover and he'd been on the edge of collapse when one of the Suna nurses had ordered him away, an expression on her face that would have kept him from arguing even if his chakra hadn't been as exhausted as his emotions.

Testing the weight of the stone in his hand and finding it satisfactory, Deidara reared his arm back and let the rock fling across the water, a subtle smile curving his lips when the stone got five skips before sinking. He'd gotten maybe a couple hours of solid rest before the nightmares had woken him up and, knowing it was as hopeless to try and sleep as it was to try and inject himself back into the organized chaos of the refugees, he had made his way to the other side of the lake where he could at least keep watch while he tried out his newest form of relaxation: rock skipping.

It was supposed to take the place of the nervous sculpting he'd used to do with his clay; as had the meditation, journal keeping, and whole list of other things he'd tried. Skipping rocks had come as close to that feeling of calm brought on by his sculpting as anything he'd ever tried. Maybe it was because when the rock finally lost its momentum, it made a splash like an aquatic explosion. Or maybe it was because, even after the stone was out of his sight, it was still there; never-ending and eternal.

The thought made him flinch like a slap to the face never would. Sinking to his knees before kicking his legs in front of him Deidara looked out at the water, his eyes focusing on the diamond-like glitter even as his consciousness was pulled into his mind.

No one understood. They were worried about him; Hell, _he_ was worried about himself. Deidara had never been good at drowning in despair, thus the whole turning-missing-nin thing at fourteen. He usually did something with his negativity; forced it to make something beautiful and destructive. It was confusing everyone that it wasn't happening the same way this time.

This time was different and for some reason no one could understand that.

He knew they understood the basics. His partner, whom he'd spent the majority of his teenage years and a few of his twenties following and harassing, had been killed and Deidara was saddened by it.

They got that part; you'd have to be as dumb as a rock not to.

What they didn't understand was why it was hurting him so badly.

His Danna was gone and he wasn't coming back.

And there was nothing Deidara could do about it.

He was all alone again.

Weak and alone

Blinking harshly to stop the tears that were starting to flood his eyes; Deidara looked down at his hands, his striking blue eyes skipping over the unnatural mouths on his palms given to him by his kekkei genkai to the chipped black nail polish coating his fingernails. _I'll have to repaint them soon_, he thought absently.

Deidara bit his lip. The nail painting had been something his Danna had introduced him to, when he'd first joined the Akatsuki at a little over fourteen.

Tears slipped passed his lashes and Deidara rubbed them away viciously. He shouldn't be doing this right now, crying and carrying on like a child. His Danna probably would have smacked him upside the head by now if he were there.

_But he's not here_, a traitorous little voice at the back of his head whispered, _he left, just like everyone else will…_

_No! _

Deidara smacked down on those thoughts firmly, smothering them before they could grow and strangle him like they had when he was younger. He was stronger than that. Danna had made sure of it.

And he'd be damned if he let himself forget it.

Breathing deeply, Deidara picked himself up off the ground and made a damn good effort to pull himself together. Kami, he was so _sick_ of this. Sick of being so dead and down; it was high time he picked himself up again. It was what Sa–

Deidara mentally choked on the redhead's name. Okay, so maybe he'd start with baby steps.

It wasn't like anyone was about to start rushing him or anything; after all, half the people he cared about were currently scattered about the elemental nations.

Deidara grinned; who'd have thought Kisame would wind up running Ame with the Kazekage's older brother? Damn, he wished he'd been invited when Konan had informed Pein about who his successor would be.

Or perhaps not; according from the last message the duo had sent, Pein was still in the 'if you dare mess up my village I will etc., etc.' phase. The actual initial reaction must have been horrific.

See, while Pein (or Nagato, as the significantly less crazy man was going by now) hadn't really wanted to be Amekage anymore, that didn't mean he wouldn't lay down his life for the village. Having a couple of "fucking punks" take over after him hadn't necessarily been in line with his expectations.

In short, thank Kami for Konan or things could have really gotten ugly.

With one last shake of his head, Deidara decided he'd 'rested' enough and it was time to get back to work. Pulling himself from his seat on the shore the blonde began his way back towards the gathering of shelters, inwardly awed by the way the genjutsu placed on the area rippled around the edges, showing that even though he could see past the jutsu it was still in place.

It was quite the piece of work. It showed a thick, dark forest just like all the others that dotted the land Rice Country hadn't cleared and flooded over the years to grow its namesake, such as the ones that hid some of Orochimaru's larger, more blatantly evil, bases. As it was, the genjutsu completely hid the ten-city and ran off of chakra funneled into special crystals of Sasuke's design that when originally used in conjunction with each other created a barrier of sorts to keep people and animals away.

The cover illusion of the forest and the system that had been designed to let certain people see past it were both Itachi's work.

_Itachi…_

Words couldn't describe how much Deidara had hated the bastard when he'd first 'joined' the Akatsuki; something that wouldn't have happened if not for the other man. His anger had driven him to new heights with his training as well as given him something to strive for and rant over; something that had driven his Danna to distraction.

"_If you hate him so much why do you always talk about him?" _The Sasori in his memories droned, face the perfect picture of detached beauty, _"you of all should know silence is the worst insult."_

Having been just sixteen at the time Deidara had merely glared (re: pouted) and changed the subject to something less introspective. Of _course_ he'd known silence was the worse insult; every artist did. Silence meant you had no impact; that all you were and all you had done was nothing worth having breath wasted on. It was just that Itachi had annoyed him so much! Even when playing with his precious clay, his only solace for much of his life, Itachi would still find some way to slip into his mind and out his mouth.

It had annoyed him to fantastical heights.

Eventually though, the hatred he'd harbored for the older Uchiha had melted down and cooled into something more of a rivalry than anything else; especially once it had clicked that he'd wouldn't have met his Danna if not for the older ninja's forceful actions. It helped that Itachi wasn't really _that_ much of an asshole either, once you got down to it. He could be almost understanding every once in a while, something that Deidara had come to enjoy now that the world seemed so alien to him.

Once past the genjutsu barrier, the man continued on until he found a ninja who looked like he had an idea of what was going on. Upon being filled in Deidara found that the first wave of settlers Kabuto had scared up had arrived and were looking for direction, which had yet to be given because they needed his clearance.

Sighing, Deidara mustered a grin from somewhere deep inside and told the dude to start categorizing people into groups based on their talents and physical ability. Once done, the larger portion of those with medical experience (either ninja or civilian) were to set up shop immediately while a smaller group of the more battle able were to march back to the Oto HQ once they got word of Oto's condition.

Once the man had finished with his saluting (and Kami, was that weird to experience) he dashed off and easily disappeared into the buzzing crowd.

Turning on his heel Deidara made his way to the tent set up in the middle of the camp where the administration offices were set up, intent on reading the updates that were bound to be piled on his desk before contacting Oto to get a status update. People were starting to get nervous packed together in this place and he wasn't going to stop nagging until he got a solid time constraint with which to reassure them.

With so much on his mind, he didn't think anyone would blame him for walking into them.

Then again, he thought as he eyed the tall, dark object of his earlier thoughts from the dirt he'd been bowled over to during their collision, he doubted very many had the gall to knock over Itachi Uchiha.

Absently, Deidara wondered if this is how people in the presence of one of his explosions felt.

Without his knowing, a small spark returned to his eyes when the thought was allowed to expand for the first time without his heart aching in the process.

Perhaps, just slightly, having Itachi around for a bit would be a good thing, Deidara thought as the older ninja gruffly gave him a hand up. Everything else was going on an upward incline, why not their relationship?

It's not like anything could get worse, at this point.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys. I did it again. Took forever to update but I actually did it! Hopefully the last chapter will be out soon. <strong>

**Anyway, I hope you'll review please!**

**And make sure to thank my beta, the wondrous TheVastEmptiness!**

**Sincerely,**

**BlackRoseGirl666**


	7. Reprise

**"Hush little Kitling, don't say a word.**

**Kyuubi's earthquake will shake the whole wide world,**

* * *

><p><strong>(Six Years Later) <strong>

The tall, thin form of a lone woman clad in a bloody-red battle kimono cut an imposing image against the raging sunset. Surrounding her, the bodies of countless ninja lay haphazardly across the scorched, muddied ground. The white-clad forms of medics – cast black by the dying sun - could be picked out through the horror, though instead of instilling a sense of hope they merely gave the impression that there wasn't nearly enough of anything to go around.

The woman's face – like that of a fairy doll, though much more realistic, a small child had thought once upon a time – grew a bitter smile. 'Not nearly enough' seemed to be the theme of the Fourth Shinobi War.

The reformed Oto had not been respected nearly enough. Their statements – and later, their threats – had been taken with not nearly enough caution. Konoha, as well those who had allied with the village, had not paid nearly enough attention.

They still didn't, not really. But their fear served just as well.

Turning her back to the carnage the infamous Kyuubi no Kitsune swiftly made her way back toward the capitol of the nation she had come to love almost as much as her own child, one of its founding leaders. The large, imposing gates swung open with a gentle push from her hand – their engrained chakra sensors having recognized her as a leader of the nation – and the guards standing promptly on either side of the entrance, garbed in the royal purple and dominating red of their nation, nodded her a respectful greeting punctuated with vaguely awed whispers of her name.

The bitter smile on her face became a pleased one as the image the guards made, combined with the general bustling life of _her_ village, cleared away the reality of the horror show outside their doors for a few moments.

Unlike so many others, it seemed that Oto had bloomed in the wartime economy. The many dubious skills and morals of their inhabitants had paid off in ways none could imagine, their message of acceptance having turned many a strange and skilled ninja into their embrace. Even the jinchuriki, the prized weapons of so many nations, had turned on their tamers once the newly rendered Country of Shadows had offered them their deal.

It might have had something to do with the way Kyu, the Great Nine-Tailed-Fox, had whispered to their demons, coaxing and calling and sometimes intimidating the lesser beings into pants-wetting terror when they refused to agree; or the way Naruto had smiled, full of promise and hope, at their containers. Either way, it had worked. Those who were permanently bound to their villages had manipulated their homes into becoming allies with Sound whilst others had settled firmly within Shadow Country's borders. It was a good move on their parts, as was evidenced by the way those nations and ninja aligned with Otogakure – not just a Hidden Village now, but Shadow Country's _capital city_ – managed to weather the war.

Kyu smirked to herself as she looked around the city, the beating heart of a country that had swallowed the six neutral ones around it and was steadily encroaching on the Country of Fire's territory, snuffing the flames with cool, steady darkness. Every time she stepped foot in her home she found herself slightly awed by its extraordinarily quick growth, her mind insisting that the little collection of camps they'd had before should not have grown into the metropolis around her so quickly.

She supposed it was partly due to the population being around ninety percent ninja; and powerful ones at that. Missing nin who'd agreed to follow some rules so long as they could be assured they wouldn't be hunted, remnants of clans long dismembered, daughters disillusioned with being treasured merely for what they might pass on to a powerful man's heir. If there were three things in someone's life (_talent, desire,_ _tragedy_) you could bet they had somehow been added to Shadow Country's army.

And it had all started here, within the steel-bordered Village Hidden in the Sound, which had spread to include the entirety of the former Rice Country. The territory had been up for grabs after Rice's daimyo had been killed (_assassinated_), sparking a meager civil war amongst the people. One the tiny, but ambitious, fledging Hidden Village of Otogakure had shamelessly taken advantage of.

It hadn't been too much trouble to calm the rage in the civilians of Rice, honestly. They had been a starving, oppressed minority within the Elemental Lands; enslaved by their ruler and ignored by other countries, despite their hard work being what produced some sixty percent of the rice that fed the majority of citizens in those other countries. They'd been tired, aggravated, and fractured. Both sides of the 'civil war' had really wanted the same thing, but had been so hopped up about it they'd clashed and bickered until they were fighting each other. Otogakure had merely stepped in, acted as a mediator, and convinced the people it would be better their way.

There had been those who'd spoke against the idea, but they'd been silenced one way or another. Kyu had mentioned that Oto had 'shamelessly taken advantage of' rather than 'saved the country from' civil war, hadn't she?

Not that it had mattered in the end. Everyone (living) had been happy enough with the Country of Rice being redubbed the Country of Shadow, its capital taken from the daimyo's hometown to Otogakure. Especially when it had been made known that under the new ninja-principle-based leadership the country would soon be moving to consolidate their neighboring lands, giving them the option of willing annexation or full on war.

It turned out that formerly oppressed people rather liked the idea of becoming conquerors, specifically when the lands they were bringing to heel had ignored their pleas for help regularly. The ninja populace had gotten a high off it as well, for never before had a ninja village been the capital of a country, nor had their Kage functioned also as their daimyo.

To the countries they'd waged against it had been an easy choice. The choice becoming especially clear when it became certain that even when all six independent territories rallied their wealth together, they still didn't have enough to hire a large enough foreign ninja team to protect them.

Kyu had merely smirked as her boys had plotted it out. And to think that up until then some people had thought that having local ninja was more trouble than it was worth.

The Country of Fire's daimyo had used their takeover as an excuse to declare war on the newly united Shadow Country, of course. Some (_most_) thought (_knew_) that it had been Konoha ninja working under the Fire Country's daimyo who'd killed Rice's leader. According to rumor (_commonsense_), it had been a return gesture for how Otogakure had flat out refused to let the other ninja village monitor them as a "show of faith".

Konoha had thought the loss of Rice Country's daimyo would weaken Oto's resolve, would cow them into submission. When Otogakure had instead manipulated it to their advantage, war had been the only choice for Konoha if they wished to try and save face.

Oh, Kyu thought with vicious relish, how shocked Konoha must have been when they'd been informed that Suna would be siding against them, stating that fighting with them would break another alliance of theirs… a little something called the Exile Alliance.

Kyu's one regret would be that she hadn't been in the room when Konoha had received word of it. Her only let down that she hadn't been there to see just how shaken the enemy village had been from the social earthquakes her boys had released.

Gliding down the streets of Oto with a brisk pace Kyu shamelessly grinned at what she saw. It was a fortress city, the safest outside of Ame, and the most deadly to walk through if your chakra didn't mesh that of the sensors. The decimated ninja army outside Oto's gate had learnt that well when the chakra-wave nets, trigged by the negative confirmation of the sensors, had snared each ninja's own personal core and rent it from their worthless bodies, causing mass heartaches at the loss.

It was a gruesome, impersonal, bloody way to die. Personally, Kyu delighted in the splotches of red it painted across the nation, as well as the disbelieving looks they received from their political prisoners when they were shown the evidence of it.

Walking with quick elegance Kyu made her way to Otokage Compound with minimal interruption, occasionally nodding in the direction of someone she recognized and receiving the same back. The streets of Otogakure were orderly things and sparsely populated, with most of its people stationed amongst allies and outlying regions that needed more help. Those who were left were the bare minimum necessary for running the capital and mostly unable to fight, in any case. If you were at all able-bodied, you were either in the factories making weapons, in the fields growing food, or disposing of the bodies.

With a handful of exceptions, of course. It wouldn't do to have your generals and leaders doing war labor when there were still plans to be made, would it?

With one last poisonous smirk directed at the enemies she kept at the forefront of her mind, Kyu entered the Otokage Compound where the last stand of the war was being planned.

And boy, she thought, eyes glinting excitedly, was it going to be a _doozy_.

* * *

><p><strong>But if Konoha does not fall,<strong>

**Fire will come at Kyuubi's call**

**And if Konoha does not burn,**

**Kyuubi will make the oceans churn,**

**And if Konoha does not drown,**

**Kyuubi's tornado will blow it down**

**And if Konoha stays as it has been,**

* * *

><p><strong>(Three Weeks Later)<strong>

Fire, **fire**, _fire_, fire, FIRE! Flames and burning and the acrid stench of flesh and dreams, melting like fat off a roasting animal.

Konoha was an animal, _the_ animal. Bound and blood-let, throat slashed, claws and fangs harvested as ornaments. Souvenirs. _War_ _trophies_.

Tsunade gagged as she stumbled through the smoky, ashy streets of her village, hands grasping aimlessly, nails scraping along for a purchase she just couldn't find. Opening her eyes into slits the blonde felt tears carve rivulets into the soot on her face, the fires everywhere around her burning the broken remains of her heart.

In every place the Hokage looked Konoha lay in withering flame, her ninja roiling in agony as their skin boiled and flesh burnt. Over the village's walls the blonde could just spot the torched remains of their nation's proud forests, not a leaf left for the ninja village to remain hidden in. Despair swelled in Tsunade's chest.

How could she let this happen? Why hadn't she been able to stop it before it had gotten this far? She'd known they'd been losing the war – she had been fighting against the Fire Country daimyo and her own council to get them to do something to put an end to it – but it appeared that all of those struggles were in vain, that they had not been _enough_.

Falling to her knees in the village square Tsunade tried to remember how it had come to this.

The war had seemed like such a sure thing when they'd started it; like it was the only logical thing to do. All the hurt, all the betrayal she'd felt at seeing the boys alive, in power, and challenging their _home village_, working with _demons and_ _criminals, _even after being warned of their transgressions with their daimyo's blood… it had all just melted away into rage and justification.

_See, she hadn't been a bad Hokage to send the Uchiha on that mission. He was obviously able to handle himself. It was their fault Konoha had been forced to shun them, think them dead, not investigate further. Their fault, not hers. She was a good Hokage, dammit. She'd show them._

And now look at where that mentality had gotten her people, the blonde thought miserably.

This hadn't even been the first of the attacks, either. Supposedly freak wind storms, massive flooding in coastal Fire Country, earthquakes. It was like the very elements had been against them as well as their human enemies.

The blonde felt the hysterical urge to laugh, perhaps in hopes she'd drown in the ashes of her people. It seemed that ashes were all that was left of them now; all the memorial they were granted by the raging inferno that had consumed them, despite the countless water jutsu that must have been used against the flames. Flames that seemed impervious to their natural countermeasure.

Tsunade gasped as something struck the back of her head, hard. Pain lanced through her body and sent her flat to her stomach, panicking her senses. On instinct she grabbed onto the sensation and attempted to use it as a focus, to bring herself back to a state in which she could defend her prone body. For a moment she thought she was seeing things, as the fiery miasma disappeared briefly, leaving behind just her somewhat unharmed village and various black-clad forms, but she was dragged from that reprieve and back to her hellish reality soon enough.

The ashes of her heart scattering once again as the image of her fire-ravaged village became all the clearer, Tsunade wished for the first time in her life that it would just _end_. That it would just stop and let her go long enough to escape with her dignity.

Little did she know that the foolish had little dignity in the first place.

Harsh hands grabbed her shoulders, flipping her hard onto her back and letting her head smack against the interlocking stones of the burning square. A thin hand with talon-tipped fingers clasped around her throat, gagging her. She tried to cry out, to gather herself, to scream, to fight, to do _anything_; but she felt so weak, her body so heavy and hard to move. A deep voice rumbled around her, clawing its way in through her ears and engraving its words in her bones.

"I know I promised the kit he'd have the joy of this, but I think I'm allowed to break a promise once in a while, hm?"

Real, cold fear filled every vein in Tsunade's body as she stared into the human-esque eyes of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. No matter what the demon had started to call herself in her pretty, human form, she'd always been the Kyuubi when Tsunade had been forced to address her, both at that fateful chunin exam in Suna and at the few, strained peace talks afterwards.

Absently, the blonde wondered if perhaps that had been one of her mistakes.

Black hair flaring with her raging demonic power, ears present, pressed tight against her skull, and as viciously orange as the nine swishing tails behind her, the Kyuubi looked just as terrifying here as she did in her monster form. With her small, lady-like hands wrapped tightly around the blonde's throat - the nails blackened and sharpened to claws that dug painfully into Tsunade's flesh – she couldn't be anything but.

"D-DEMon…" Tsunade tried to scream, to warn the others, but part way through the call she achingly remembered that there were perhaps no others to warn. Tears flung listlessly from her eyes, down her face; a natural reaction to the burning air and her useless heartache.

The Kyuubi laughed at her; not the deep, rough sound Tsunade expected, but a higher, sharper sound. Like fine glass as it shattered against the floor.

"Poor little Tsunade!" The nine-tails cooed, "so tired of the hurt she's spread and been dealt! So tired of sending children off to battle…" The demon's hand tightened drastically and Tsunade's eyes widened in reaction. The blonde could feel her blood trickle along her skin from where the ancient woman's claws cut her.

"I think it's time for her to go to sleep." The demon murmured as she leant down close by the gasping woman's ear, "and tonight, there are no lullabies."

A sharp crack rent the air of the village.

* * *

><p><strong>Then Kyuubi will start all over again…"<strong>

* * *

><p>Sasuke Uchiha sucked in a sharp breath as he watched as the woman he'd come to think of as a mother-in-law easily took the life of the woman he'd once looked up to, but had ultimately signed his death warrant all those years ago.<p>

It was a beautiful, terrible thing to watch.

Kyu was completely in her element; her body language proud, controlled, and so, so deadly. The hem of her red battle kimono, something that had become almost as iconic as her demonic form, fluttered lightly about her sandal-clad feet, her nine orange tails twirling caustically around her petite body as her raw chakra played with her hair.

Konoha's formerly proud Hokage, on the ground and pulled into a ball as an instinctual reaction against injury, was almost lost in Kyu's presence.

From their vantage point up high on the roof of the Hokage's building, Sasuke, Naruto, Deidara, and Itachi had watched it all unfold. It had taken some convincing to get Naruto to stand down – the blonde having wanted desperately to be the one to end the hag's life - but Sasuke had managed to get the blond to agree to watching – just this once, Sasuke had sworn – alongside the other three.

Or, at least alongside Deidara and Sasuke. Itachi had been a little too preoccupied to be doing much more than what he already was, seeing as it was him who was holding the collective residents of Konoha under a village-sized genjutsu.

Sasuke smirked in what might have been considered an evil manner. Whereas the ninja aligned with Otogakure saw Konoha as it truly was – stable, if a little banged up from the attention of its government being shifted so far away from home for such a long time; the trees full, abundant and brilliant – the Konoha ninja and civilians saw it as a burning epicenter of violence. They saw their comrades struggling, fighting, dying; their families in tatters. They saw their lives falling apart around them and there was no one to tell them otherwise. They saw the most hopeless situation one could _be_ _in_ while at war.

And while they were incapacitated in their misery, a mixed crew of Suna, Oto, and Ame ninja quietly picked them off.

It was a despicable technique; one they, the Council of Exiles plus himself and Naruto, had found buried at the back of Orochimaru's private library. It was designed to effect entire battlefields, up to and including one's own army. It had taken them ages to tailor it to fit their needs. Between finding a way to keep it within the village's limits _and_ to keep it from affecting their own people (something Deidara had helped tremendously with), it had been almost impossible. But once that was done… well, it proved effective, to say the least.

One of their biggest fears when preparing it for use had been that it would be found out, or worse, found out _and then_ used against them. To someone who knew the plan, the preparation for the attack had seemed so obvious; and it had taken _so long_. Sasuke had honestly felt surprised when no one outside their allies had caught on.

To ensure the genjutsu would be active and all-consuming for as long as possible, significant measures had to be taken within Konoha. They'd had to kill or turn every member of the Hyuga and Aburame clans; the Hyuga because of their abilities to see through genjutsu with the Byakugan, and the Aburame because their bugs could not be affected by the illusions. Kurenai Yuhi, Konoha's resident Genjutsu Mistress, had also needed to be quieted, along with Kakashi Hatake, and Jiraiya of the Sanin if at all possible.

It had been a challenge, to say the least.

The Hyuga and Aburame had been large clans, powerful, and generally respected in Konoha. It had taken quite some time to get rid of them, especially seeing as they couldn't just wipe out both clans in one strike without it looking overly suspicious. Thankfully, many of the Hyuga hadn't been as loyal as Oto had suspected. Once rumors had spread of Oto's advances with seals, many Branch House Hyuga had come to them, bartering their loyalty to have their cursed seal removed.

The seal the Main House had used to keep their Byakugan safe and the Branch House subservient had been their undoing, in short. Once enough of the Branch House had turned loyalties, they'd risen up and offed the Main House and any loyal to them. The Main House had been too surprised, been killed off too quickly, for any of them to even think of doing the correct seals to kill off the Branch House.

Oh, the irony.

The Aburame 'massacre' had been slow going, on the other hand; with very, very few choosing to turn. They'd had to pick the many loyal ones off one by one, which had been amazingly tedious, dangerous, and bloody work. Yuhi had been assassinated by Sasuke himself. It hadn't been much of a fight once he'd nicked her with one of his fast-acting poison senbon.

They'd all thought Kakashi Hatake would pose an issue, but the hit team assigned to him had returned with merely a note, stating that he would cause no harm to them so long as they caused none to him. The same could be said for Jiraiya the Toad Sage, who had disappeared after the fall of the last loyal Aburame.

It appeared Konoha had pushed them both too far, though perhaps not to the point of fallout opposition. As far as anyone could tell, it seemed they'd kept their word and neither man had been seen since.

Sasuke had been privately happy about that. Truth be told he'd been dreading having to kill his old teacher (the man had tried to do his best, he really had) and Sasuke hadn't wanted to know the effect battling Jiraiya would have had on Naruto.

It was just better this way.

Smiling, Sasuke gently took the hand of his six-month boyfriend. It felt warm and strong in his, a nice reassurance with this warped version of the Konoha in his memories before them. Naruto returned the gesture with his own smile and a nervous blush, pulling Sasuke closer to his side so he could wrap an arm around the smaller man. To their left, standing promptly behind Itachi in case someone tried to attack him while he was distracted with the jutsu or something went wrong, Deidara gave them a little smile.

It was a relief to see it on the blonde's face, even all these years later. Itachi had been a big help with Deidara's recovery; doing a perfect job of not quite taking Sasori's place, but helping the younger ninja put his danna's ghost to a peaceful rest.

And if Kankuro felt somewhat put out by that then, well, so be it.

"This is an odd place to be snickering, eh, Sasuke?" Naruto murmured in his ear, his warm breath tickling the ravenette's sensitive skin.

Sasuke snorted. "Says the man who flat out giggled at that last squadron we took down."

Naruto shrugged, "What can I say? I like irony."

Meaning that he'd found it funny how Sakura Haruno (also known as "That Cherry Blossom Bitch", as well as "The Banshee"), Sasori's killer, had been taken out by exploding clay puppets. They'd walked right up to her team and, while the group of five had been trying to figure out what they were, detonated.

Deidara had laughed at random intervals for days, whereas Naruto had managed to keep it to just a few giggles. The rest of them had merely wondered why they let the notably more crazy members of their leadership handle all the really dangerous things.

That would drop to a minimum now, though, Sasuke thought with relief. With Konoha and most of the surrounding territory captured, the Fire Daimyo dead at his summer home, and pretty much every political faction otherwise calling for the end of this five-year-long bloodbath, the war would finally end.

It would be a welcome break, Sasuke thought.

"I can't wait to go home." The ravenette said quietly, eyes scanning over the surrounding area out of a mixture of boredom and a sense of it-can't-be-this-easy.

"Once upon a time this used to be our home." Naruto mused. "Do you ever regret what we did?"

In the distance there was a scream cut short, probably by a ninja of theirs. Back at his office there would be paperwork to do, people to pacify. He'd probably have nightmares when he slept, his conscience catching up to him.

He'd never really be able to wash the blood from his hands; not from what he'd done personally or from what he'd ordered. The scars he had would probably never fade past what they had, and he'd wince every time he saw Sakon, miserable and painfully dedicated to his new post at the record's library now that Ukon was dead after a raid gone bad.

"Not for a minute." Only for seconds, and only ever sometimes. It was childish to think otherwise.

Distantly he thought he heard Naruto humming something, similar to the tune of a lullaby, perhaps, but different from anything Sasuke could remember.

He found it oddly soothing, and let himself rest fully against his co-ruler. Below them Kyu was chatting with one of their officers, flirting obviously with him and watching with blatant glee as he stammered out answers for her. She was positively glowing at his reactions.

"I guess Kyuubi did start all over again," Sasuke heard Naruto mumble to himself, "just in a way no one guessed."

Not quite knowing what to say, Sasuke merely nodded his agreement and snuggled closer to the man he'd finally admitted to loving, strange little quirks and all.

After all, the saying went 'crazy like a fox' right? The meaning had to double when you grew up listening to their lullabies.

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><p><strong>Fucking hell, it's finished! One impulse adoption, two years, a lot of procrastination, and an amazing beta later, it's done! <strong>

**Thank you all who've read, reviewed, alerted, and favourited this! It wouldn't have happened if you didn't support it!**

**Also thank you to Daydreamer-74423, who let me adopt it!**

**The biggest thanks of all goes to TheVastEmptiness though, who is a wicked awesome beta and probably the reason this story looks half as good as it does. Thank you so much!**

**Sincerely,**

**BlackRoseGirl666**


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